Unusual 'tiger' isopod (Armadillidium vulgare) found in a canyon near my house

Aquarimax · Jul 25, 2015

Yesterday, while hiking with the family, I noticed that the abundant pillbugs had a higher incidence of individuals with yellow markings than I uusually see. However, the marking themselves were not particularly unusual. A. vulgare with yellow markings are fairly common:

Then my son found this specimen:

and a short time later we found this one:

I remember reading a thread somewhere about someone finding/breeding individuals of this species with large amounts of yellow. I am going to attempt to breed these (I collected a total of six high-yellow individuals yesterday) and hopefully fix a strain of 'tiger' pillbugs!

LythSalicaria · Jul 25, 2015

I don't usually think of pillbugs as being pretty, but those are gorgeous!

Hope the breeding attempt goes well.

mmfh · Jul 25, 2015

Good luck with that. Those are very pretty. Wouldn't mind owning some

Aquarimax · Jul 27, 2015

LythSalicaria said:
I don't usually think of pillbugs as being pretty, but those are gorgeous!

Hope the breeding attempt goes well.

Thanks! Hopefully I will have good news eventually!

---------- Post added 07-27-2015 at 06:55 AM ----------

mmfh said:
Good luck with that. Those are very pretty. Wouldn't mind owning some

Hopefully I will be able to introduce their descendants into the hobby someday! It might take a while to fix the strain, if it is even possible...but I will certainly try!

Tenodera · Jul 28, 2015

So beautiful! I've always liked the white/yellow-streaked ones but that is on a whole new level.

Also, I enjoy the note that you came across these while hiking with the family. Do you always walk in the back of the pack so you can take the time to catch things too?

Hisserdude · Jul 28, 2015

Tenodera said:
So beautiful! I've always liked the white/yellow-streaked ones but that is on a whole new level.

Also, I enjoy the note that you came across these while hiking with the family. Do you always walk in the back of the pack so you can take the time to catch things too?

Lol I always am at the back when hiking with my family, I kneel down for just a tiny bit to look under some rocks and when I get up I have to run to catch up to them again!

I once produced an A.vulgare with these markings from my colony, the thing was nearly completely yellow! Unfortunately both my A.vulgare colonies mysteriously died out, so I was not able to isolate the color morph.

Aquarimax · Jul 28, 2015

Tenodera said:
So beautiful! I've always liked the white/yellow-streaked ones but that is on a whole new level.

I was/am very excited about this find. : ) I am glad you appreciate them.

Tenodera said:
Also, I enjoy the note that you came across these while hiking with the family. Do you always walk in the back of the pack so you can take the time to catch things too?

I have definitely been known to do that on occasion. : ) Luckily, most of the family is nearly as interested as I am in the inverts, so there is a lot of "Hey, Dad, look what I found!" "Here's one!" and "I caught one for you!"

---------- Post added 07-28-2015 at 03:19 PM ----------

Hisserdude said:
Lol I always am at the back when hiking with my family, I kneel down for just a tiny bit to look under some rocks and when I get up I have to run to catch up to them again!

I once produced an A.vulgare with these markings from my colony, the thing was nearly completely yellow! Unfortunately both my A.vulgare colonies mysteriously died out, so I was not able to isolate the color morph.

Did you post the pic of that yellow A. vulgare? If so, I think I remember seeing that post. Sorry to hear the colonies died out. : (
I am going to see if I can persuade the family to visit the canyon again soon...and this time I'll remember a collection container!

Hisserdude · Jul 28, 2015

I believe I posted pics on Roachforum or Beetleforum, but I'll post a pic here too, just in case. Yeah, one colony died out, then the other was doing ok until a few weeks ago, then they all just died. Anyway, here is the yellow A.vulgare. It was produced from WC adults with minimal markings.

Aquarimax · Jul 30, 2015

Hisserdude said:
I believe I posted pics on Roachforum or Beetleforum, but I'll post a pic here too, just in case. Yeah, one colony died out, then the other was doing ok until a few weeks ago, then they all just died. Anyway, here is the yellow A.vulgare. It was produced from WC adults with minimal markings.

View attachment 137962

Thanks for sharing the pic! It may have been on roach forum that I saw it. I find it very interesting that adults with minimal markings threw this individual. Maybe a recessive trait? The patterning is strikingly like the ones I have, so maybe this crops up periodically in the species.

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cacoseraph · Aug 1, 2015

maybe an iridovirus?

Aquarimax · Aug 3, 2015

cacoseraph said:
maybe an iridovirus?

The thought crossed my mind...I hope not...

Aquarimax · Aug 12, 2015

cacoseraph said:
maybe an iridovirus?

Your post prompted some research[emoji3]. As far as I can tell, an iridovirus results in blue or purple only, which pervades the entire body. So far, the yellow coloration has not spread. . let's hope!

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viper69 · Aug 12, 2015

Never knew they existed beyond grey!! How cool!

A virus changed their color how interesting too.

Tenevanica · Aug 13, 2015

If the breeding attempt works, I would buy some of these from you in a heartbeat!

Aquarimax · Aug 13, 2015

Tenevanica said:
If the breeding attempt works, I would buy some of these from you in a heartbeat!

I'll do my best to get these into the hobby. [emoji3] Glad you like them!

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Hisserdude · Aug 13, 2015

Unfortunately it will take a long time to see if the young produced from these adults will have the same mature coloration, as these usually take over a year or two to mature, and the immatures will have yellow markings even in drab adults. Hope you can isolate them, and possibly create an all yellow morph!

Aquarimax · Aug 13, 2015

Hisserdude said:
Unfortunately it will take a long time to see if the young produced from these adults will have the same mature coloration, as these usually take over a year or two to mature, and the immatures will have yellow markings even in drab adults. Hope you can isolate them, and possibly create an all yellow morph!

Yep, it will take quite a while, if it works at all...I think I read it took several years of selective breeding before the peach pill bugs became available. I'll see what I can do, though! [emoji2]

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John Galt · Dec 30, 2015

I have a bunch of these that popped up in my main colony, I was going to isolate them to see if I can breed them as well, was just trying to confirm the species and ran into this post. How is your project coming along?

Aquarimax · Jan 2, 2016

John Galt said:
I have a bunch of these that popped up in my main colony, I was going to isolate them to see if I can breed them as well, was just trying to confirm the species and ran into this post. How is your project coming along?

My high yellows have produced numerous young, though the yellowest individual has yet to produce any. I just moved the group to larger quarters. How many showed up in your colony?

BobBarley · Jan 2, 2016

Huh, so this is kind of like selectively breeding isopods? Like we did with dogs? Cool!

Unusual 'tiger' isopod (Armadillidium vulgare) found in a canyon near my house

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