What Happened?!

[Bugoodle]

Last year, I ordered a Death Head's Cockroach UCR nymph that was supposed to be an ivory varient from BugsInCyberspace. Today he made final shed!

But, the roach looks just like a normal black Death Head. It's strange because at that time, they were out of stock with normal death heads, so I got this one. I was almost  kind of upset at first, but he's still awesome and most importantly my niece didn't seem to care. She loves him! He's the most beautiful roach in the collection now(sorry Hissy Fit, the Halloween Hisser)Maybe I'm wrong, is this what a UCR ivory roach looks like? I can't find much info regarding this roach let alone what UCR even means. lol 

Here's a pic. The flash makes it look lighter, but it's body is black and has a faint fading white  stripe on it's back. The only difference I see between the regular and this roach is the color of the head. It's more white. Is it a hybrid?

Thanks for any info!

 

[Hisserdude]

Huh? UCR Ivory? No such thing lol.

There are two death's head strains in the US, "Orin" stock (stock that Orin McMonigle made available in the hobby), and the "UCR" stock (stands for University of California, Riverside). This looks like a freshly molted UCR, the white will darken a bit more over time. Apparently the "Orin" stock has "higher contrast in its colors and a very distinct pronotum marking, but is smaller and more skittish than the University of California, Riverside cultivar". The UCR strain is characterized by "its larger size, overall darker coloration, and less distinct pronotum markings", and by not being that skittish and better for handling.

Somehow I think you got UCR death's heads (Blaberus craniifer) and Ivory roaches (Eublaberus sp. "Ivory) mixed up, there are no "UCR" Eublaberus.

 

[Bugoodle]

Ok, thank you! Yes, he has darkened up and is on par with my tiger hisser in size. Very large roach! Hopefully I can get some pics with him and the other roaches some time.