How to identify hybrid hissers?

[aoikirin]

Does anyone have tips for what to look for?  I am familiar with how portentosa, grandidieri and oblongonota look so I'm well on my way toward looking for something that is a mix of them.  I was just hoping for some clear tips.

 

My understanding is that many hissers labeled portentosa a are actually hybrids of portentosa and grandidieri or of portentosa and oblongonota.

[Hisserdude]

Typically, hybrid hisser strains have variable coloration, mostly lots of varying shades of brown. Even when you mix Gromphadorina portentosa with of the colorful "G.grandidieri", usually what you get are a bunch of dark brown to black hissers after a generation or two, maybe with some very slight striping. It's easier to tell when you've been sold hybrids when they are labeled "G.grandidieri", or "G.oblongonota", because they are pretty distinctive looking, and easy to tell apart from mutts, but true G.portentosa and some "Princisia" bloodlines don't look very different from hybrids, so that's where most of the confusion lies. In that case, your best bet is to get some from a keeper who has made very sure to keep their colonies pure, (like Roachcrossing, or the Roach Lab).

If your stock ends up having a LOT of variation in color, it's very likely they could be hybrids, but sometimes it's hard to tell, as even the pure bloodlines can have a little bit of color variation between individuals. So if you really wanna make sure your hissers are pure, get them from very reputable dealers who label theirs as "Pure stock", and keep them all in escape proof caging to prevent them from getting into different enclosures. If you find a hisser nymph on the floor after doing maintenance on your colonies, don't assume which colony it belongs to, just terminate it, or keep it isolated until maturity so you can identify it properly.