Pseudoglomeris sculpta, the Sclputured False Pill Roach
Welcome to another post, one that I am very pleased to make!
My more serious roach keeping adventures started with a locally caught Perisphaerus punctatus female.
And soon after, I became aware that there were a ton of Perisphaeriinae species in China, and of course, it would be awesome to collect them all.
There was a particular document which I always found very interesting and showed a lot of varied species, besides being my go to bible for Perisphaeriinae identification.
There was a particular species which I always scrolled past by, never caught much of my attention.
Until one day, 5th May 2022, I got a video from a roach catcher.
Of course I had to go to the Perisphaeriinae expert - Invertebratedude [blog] and ask him if he knew what it was! I have a feeling, if he was seated, he jumped from his chair… because I got a reply like.
“ITS PSEUDOGLOMERIS SCULPTA!!!!!!!” :D
Of course, I wasted no time and tried to purchase the bunch of nymphs he was selling… well that would turn out to be the beginning of a series of misunderstandings between me and the catcher, because it turned out he was a re-seller and he didn’t have the species, etc etc…. long story short…. I waited forever after my down payment for a species that never came.
Fast forward almost a year later, early February, the same seller, sends me a photo.
He was offering once again a group of wild caught Pseudoglomeris sculpta! And once again, I jumped to try to grab the opportunity… and can you believe it? ….. when he got the stock from the wild catcher, they all arrived dead….
It seemed that once again, I was going to fail to acquire such a beautiful species.
But one month later, he was able to source some more, and we started working with shipments of small groups, 3, 5, 8, etc.
My first package was a group of 3 adult females.
Pseudoglomeris sculpta adult female
Finally, after almost 1 year of waiting I had them!
Since they were wild caught, and normally my experience from other species tell me that they will mate early before their short winter diapause, and then once spring arrives, they will give birth, I wasn’t very concerned by not having any males. And the females, although being a quite flat roach species for a Perisphaeriinae, they looked fat and dilated. Probably pregnant.
Pseudoglomeris sculpta adult female
I have meanwhile acquired other groups of females and nymphs. And as of this moment, I have a group 15 strong, with another 11 coming soon.
Pseudoglomeris sculpta adult female
Don’t you find their highly sculptured and punctate body stunning? with a body very coarse, densely hairy… although due to their collection and packaging sometimes the roaches will loose these hairs, just like P.aerea.
This species seems to be restricted to the Southern Yunnan province, hence their rarity and availability even in the Chinese insect catching/selling platforms.
There isn’t any online photos or references for Pseudoglomeris sculpta adult male…. but today I got a surprise when I opened my mail package with my new group!
I had a mature male and 2 pre-adult male nymphs in there! Mixed with some adult females and nymphs
Which is great news. Now, I can be more confident that they will breed for me. Even if the females aren’t mated, here is a prince for you ladies! :D
Proudly presenting the only online photo for the Pseudoglomeris sculpa male! isn’t he stunning?
Pseudoglomeris sculpta adult male
Pseudoglomeris sculpta adult male
Pseudoglomeris sculpta adult male
Pseudoglomeris sculpta adult male
Hope he does a good job!
Just to wrap up the post, I am keeping them vertically, inside a 32oz cup, with a ventilated lid. Feeding them regularly apples, dry turtle food and plum tree sap, which they love!
I will keep you posted on the developments. And if you want to learn more about how to keep Perisphaerus and Pseudoglomeris, go check my care guide about them.
Perisphaerus and Pseudoglomeris, Care Guide and Ecology
Thank you so much for taking the time to read, hope you have enjoyed.
See you on the next post!
Cheers!