Hisserdude Posted May 14, 2016 Share Posted May 14, 2016 So many people have seen this picture of a beautiful blue Panchlora-like cockroach that is labeled as a Xestoblatta sp, however, I don't think it is. This roach looks like a Blaberid, yes? It looks closely related to Panchlora. However, if the Cockroach Species File is to be believed, Xestoblatta is a Ectobiid, in the subfamily Blattellinae, see here: http://cockroach.speciesfile.org/Common/basic/Taxa.aspx?TaxonNameID=1175779 Now, there aren't many pictures of the different species, however the ones that do have pictures, (X.hamata or X.sancta for example), look nothing like this blue roach, and not just cause they are a different color, morphologically they seem very different. So, unless I am greatly confused, this blue roach is not a Xestoblatta species, not even close. Anyone else agree, or disagree? I'd love to hear your guys' thoughts! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
varnon Posted May 14, 2016 Share Posted May 14, 2016 Sounds like you are right. I think this species is very clearly related to Panchlora. Panchlora is green, and in many animals green color is derived from a yellow pigment and a blue structural color. In preserved specimens, the green color is often a blue, very similar to what is seen in this roach, because the blue structure is still present, but the yellow pigment has deteriorated. That really makes me think these are pretty much just Panchlora missing some yellow pigment. (It also makes me think you should be able to selectively breed blue or yellow Panchlora, they likely have the components for both colors.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Allpet Roaches Posted May 14, 2016 Share Posted May 14, 2016 New genera are often erected for absolutely no good reason so it's probably not Panchlora but I agree calling it Panchlora sp. seems closer to the truth than calling it the random ectobiid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tenevanica Posted May 15, 2016 Share Posted May 15, 2016 +1 to the above posts Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hisserdude Posted May 15, 2016 Author Share Posted May 15, 2016 Alrighty, thanks for you opinions guys! I'm not necessarily saying they are Panchlora, but they do seem very closely related, perhaps it is something undescribed. Whether it's an undescribed Panchlora species or a new genus is beyond me. Definitely not Xestoblatta, that's for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blatteoscorpion Posted May 26, 2016 Share Posted May 26, 2016 The subfamily Panchlorinae have includes 5 genera: Achroblatta, Anchoblatta, Biolleya, Pelloblatta and Panchlora. so the other genera in the subfamily are somewhat different than Panchlora... i'm sure it's a Panchlora species. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blatteoscorpion Posted May 26, 2016 Share Posted May 26, 2016 I think this species is very clearly related to Panchlora. Panchlora is green, and in many animals green color is derived from a yellow pigment and a blue structural color. In preserved specimens, the green color is often a blue, very similar to what is seen in this roach, because the blue structure is still present, but the yellow pigment has deteriorated. That really makes me think these are pretty much just Panchlora missing some yellow pigment. (It also makes me think you should be able to selectively breed blue or yellow Panchlora, they likely have the components for both colors.) varnon, you are right!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
varnon Posted May 26, 2016 Share Posted May 26, 2016 Am I right as in somebody has breed yellow or blue P. nivea? That would be so cool! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hisserdude Posted May 26, 2016 Author Share Posted May 26, 2016 The subfamily Panchlorinae have includes 5 genera: Achroblatta, Anchoblatta, Biolleya, Pelloblatta and Panchlora. so the other genera in the subfamily are somewhat different than Panchlora... i'm sure it's a Panchlora species. True, out of all of those, it resembles Panchlora the most. However, it could possibly represent a undescribed genus for all we know, so we would really need to collect some and have a roach taxonomist look at them to know exactly what it is, or look at all the descriptions for the Panchlora species and see if any of them match this guy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blatteoscorpion Posted May 27, 2016 Share Posted May 27, 2016 yes, i agree with you. but you know where this cockroach is from? so speaking of Xestoblatta, here have a picture of one that i colected in the cloud forest, of course this guy is not so handsome!! lol!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hisserdude Posted May 27, 2016 Author Share Posted May 27, 2016 The Blue roach is apparently from Guyana. Ha, cool to see a real Xestoblatta, who the heck identified the blue "Panchlora" roach as a Xestoblatta?! Still, that Xestoblatta is good looking, at least to me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blatteoscorpion Posted May 28, 2016 Share Posted May 28, 2016 yea, the mistake of confusing Panchlora with Xestoblatta is a tremendous shortsightedness! lol! really all kinds of cockroaches are good looking to me, my favourits are 1° Blattoids, 2° Pseudomopids and 3° Epilamprids Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hisserdude Posted May 28, 2016 Author Share Posted May 28, 2016 yea, the mistake of confusing Panchlora with Xestoblatta is a tremendous shortsightedness! lol! really all kinds of cockroaches are good looking to me, my favourits are 1° Blattoids, 2° Pseudomopids and 3° Epilamprids Yeah, pretty much every roach strikes my interest, both colorful ones and plain old brown ones! Pseudomops are all really nice, though they aren't the easiest to breed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blatteoscorpion Posted May 30, 2016 Share Posted May 30, 2016 wow!! precisely the same story like Euthlstoblatta and Latiblattella i raised 3 species of Pseudomops: P. cinctus, P. interceptus and P. discicollis cinctus and interceptus breed well, but discicollis do not all 3 are from cloud forest area but interceptus is a synanthropic species i have not idea what it's natural environment, discicollis, the smaller species lives in forest clearings near backwaters or marshes and the adults often suck nectar on wild sunflowers, interceptus also does it, and my favorit's cinctus lives in cloud forest litter always near rivers. in fact, in my previous house I lived in the urban area of cloud forest and there I had more space to breed many species: the species that i breed well were: Anisopygia latisecta Blaberus sp. “Tlaltetela cave” Caloblatta sp. “cloud forest” Euthlastoblatta orizabae Euthlastoblatta totonaca Homoeogamia mexicana Ischnoptera occidentalis Ischnoptera sp “near panamae” Latiblattella azteca Latiblattella vitrea Nyctibora sp “Mancha's Reserve” Periplaneta australasiae Periplaneta americana Panchlora azteca Panchlora nivea Pseudomops cinctus Pseudomops interceptus Pycnoscelus surinamensis species that were not achieved: Anaplecta decipiens Anaplecta fallax Eurycotis sp. “Quercus hight mountain” Euthlastoblatta (Aglaopteryx) chiapas Latiblattella tarasca Pseudomops discicollis Xestoblatta sp “cloud forest” what is bad I have no photos 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blatteoscorpion Posted May 30, 2016 Share Posted May 30, 2016 Yeah, pretty much every roach strikes my interest, both colorful ones and plain old brown ones! Pseudomops are all really nice, though they aren't the easiest to breed. you must take into account that the first 2 ootecas of oviparous species are not always fertile even though they were fertilized , this also happens with some pseudomops maybe you could try the system I did to raise the pseudomopids that I put in the forum, emphasizing that the egg cases of pseudomops should put them on a bed of wet squeezed toilet paper in an unventilated jar, this will ensure the humidity they need to hatch. I successfully raised Pseudomops interceptus and Pseudomops cinctus and these species are very prolific. Later I will try to send you some pictures of those who have now raising with that method Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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