Diploptera puntacta - Pacific Beetle Mimic Cockroach

Martin

Martin

Fifth Instar
Forum Supporter
Last new colony of the year 2020 has arrived - Diploptera puntacta 

Nymph Photos

Quite excited for this species. I really love when roaches mimic other insects!

First things I have noticed:

1 - the musky smell inside the box. Not sure if the smell is from the release of any defensive chemicals from the shaking of the box during transportation or if this is their "natural" smell.

2 - their speed and climbing of walls... bloody hell... i wasn't expecting that for small nymphs. They are quite bold. Normally other nymphs will quickly run under the leaves or substrate to hide after being exposed. Well not these ones! After being re-house, and without warning they all started climbing the walls and trying to escape! All Hell was set loose in less than one minute!

3 - Very difficult to photograph! Exposed to the open, they keep running and running endlessly... the only chances I had was when i would touch their antennae and the oils in my hand would bother their senses... they would stop and lick the antennae for few seconds and then start running again. You can see in one of the photos, the nymphs cleaning itself up.

Well, that is all for now! I will keep you posted on this colony development!

Cheers

 
Very cool, Martin. I got some from Orin many, many years ago but it's been nearly as long since I had them. Neat to see somebody mention them again and good luck!

 
Peter Clausen said:
Very cool, Martin. I got some from Orin many, many years ago but it's been nearly as long since I had them. Neat to see somebody mention them again and good luck!
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Hi Peter! Thank you! I am giving my baby steps into the amazing roach world, thanks to people like you, Orin and Hisserdude (and so many others) who have been sharing their enthusiasm,  admiration and valuable time writing, recording their experiences for the future hobby enthusiasts.

This species was on under my radar for quite some time, but my wife is always a ruthless jealous dictator  :D  and so I had to wait, pick the right moment to order them, and try to sneak them inside :)  

Finally got them! Just got nymphs for now... there isn't much information on type of setup to use.

I don't like the bone dry setup types tbh, except for those species i know do not appreciate any humidity at all, like red runners, etc.. All the others, I keep them on a mix of coco fiber, excavator sand and beetle deadwood mat, covered by cork slabs topped with dead leaves. top lid extremely ventilated and I let one side dry out, while keeping the other one humid(ish).

How did you keep yours?

Regards

 
Very cool, I've never kept this species, I do hear that the main "Diploptera punctata" stock in captivity is probably actually the smaller D.minor, at least I believe that was the opinion of Dominic Evangelista, a taxonomist... Supposedly real punctata look much the same but larger, I think @Nicolas Rousseaux was breeding some at one point. Either way though, I hope yours do well for you, best of luck! 😁

 
Hisserdude said:
Very cool, I've never kept this species, I do hear that the main "Diploptera punctata" stock in captivity is probably actually the smaller D.minor, at least I believe that was the opinion of Dominic Evangelista, a taxonomist... Supposedly real punctata look much the same but larger, I think @Nicolas Rousseaux was breeding some at one point. Either way though, I hope yours do well for you, best of luck! 😁
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I got these from Chinese keepers. Since distribution of D.puntacta includes China, it may be possible that these are well the real ones? 

I will try to research more on this. Thanks for letting me know!

Cheers

 
Martin said:
I got these from Chinese keepers. Since distribution of D.puntacta includes China, it may be possible that these are well the real ones? 

I will try to research more on this. Thanks for letting me know!

Cheers
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I kinda doubt it, they probably are just keeping the same stock everyone else does. 

 
Martin said:
Yes, you are correct. I just confirmed it. It is from an International stock. :(
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I mean they're still cool, and they're the species that everyone in the hobby seems to have, just might be misidentified. No reason to be disappointed IMO! :)

 
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Quick update:

TBH I haven't been seeing much activity from these roaches. I see then congregating but not feeding so I have been quite preoccupied, but today when I opened their enclosure here is what I found (almost had a heart attack at first sight!)

Photo 1

Photo 2

Almost all of them molted ! yeay!

 
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Martin said:
Quick update:

TBH I haven't been seeing much activity from these roaches. I see then congregating but not feeding so I have been quite preoccupied, but today when I opened their enclosure here is what I found (almost had a heart attack at first sight!)

Photo 1

Photo 2

Almost all of them molted ! yeay!
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OMG that's so weird, I've never seen such a weird display of sheds before! Odd that they all molted in sync, up near the lid, and didn't eat or knock down their sheds... 😂 

 
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Here are my latest photos of this wonderful species. 

They were still terribly bold and courageous, but they did allow me more time to take better photos this time.

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