G. Portentosa? Or hybrid?

That's a bummer :( these are my first hisser species, quite disappointed they could in fact be hybrids. I really want to keep only pure culture (if that's possible).

 
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I recently ordered 3 different hisser sp. from Kyle (was very happy with my craniifer), but yeah, I'll be buying from Kyle and the knowledgable people here from now on. I realize hybrids are frowned upon, and want to do my part in keeping only pure cultures.

 
Please make sure you mark yours hybrids, especially if you sell or trade them. I'm pretty sure the portentosa stock Kyle got from me and it is older than the new "species" plus I've made efforts to keep it pure (it's not that difficult to mess up a culture if you keep multiple Gromphadorhina). I'll assume Kyle has as well.

 
I will do that. I'll likely end up culling them or giving them to a friend as feeders, they won't make their way into the hobby any further. Coming from the tarantula hobby, hybrids are frowned upon there too (some people were hybridizing pokies) and i brought that with me into new hobbies. All of my hissers are kept in airtight containers with small aluminum screen and a Vaseline barrier to prevent any escapees. I also won't be keeping any two species that could hybridize near each other, or even on the same rack.

 
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How does anyone know they are not pure? Unless someone collects wild specimens and compares DNA you can't look and say they are or aren't pure.

 
The pure stock in the hobby has little striping as adults, and they are normally orange, not dark brown or black. Though it is possible wild populations could have darker strains, I do not believe any have been imported in recent years, so any dark ones like these in the hobby are most likely hybrids.

 
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Hisserdude said:
The pure stock in the hobby has little striping as adults, and they are normally orange, not dark brown or black. Though it is possible wild populations could have darker strains, I do not believe any have been imported in recent years, so any dark ones like these in the hobby are most likely hybrids.
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Illegal importing happens all the time so it's possible people could be doing that to add vigour and you need to understand that color can vary naturally we all know how diet and humidity has been shown to affect Hisser colors.

 
MrCrackerpants said:
Wouldn't you need to analyze the roaches genitalia to verify the species? :)
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No, the reason the various Gromphadorhina and the "princisia" interbreed is all the male genitalia is the same. Species descriptions are based almost entirely on horn/pronotum structure.
 
Allpet Roaches said:
No, the reason the various Gromphadorhina and the "princisia" interbreed is all the male genitalia is the same. Species descriptions are based almost entirely on horn/pronotum structure.
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Wow! Really!?!? That seems so subjective. It would be cool if someone ran the DNA.

 
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