InsectNet forum

I recently acquired a splendid (pair) of this remarkable
species from Japan. It surely must rank as Japan's premier
species of variability and perhaps as its consummate
best species.

Of coarse, breeders there have done some outstanding
work in the arena of hybrids and those specimens are
virtually without compare.

First 2 photo's are of my pair and the 3rd photo
is of a friends exquisite (hybrid) example !

Very nice. I was admiring some of those in a friend's collection just yesterday.

Those Hokkaido specimens are superb.

Which species is the other parent of the hybrid?

Adam.

I will have to ask the owner to look at the label Adam.
I snapped the picture of the specimen that day but, got distracted and forgot to remove the label (as data for the picture).

If I find out anything I will pass it along....

I suspect it is probably a hybrid with P. hippocrates, as they have made that cross before.

Adam.

It is not a hybrid. It is an artificially made aberration of P. maackii. Some aberrations are made by putting newly formed pupae in the fridge for some time. I also heard you can make spectacular aberrations by injecting a certain kind of chemical in pupae. I don't know how this particular specimen was made, though.

By the way, I just noticed Trehopr1's maackii pair are my friend Ted's(Tadao Shimba) specimens.

Kuni

benihikage92 wrote: Thu Jun 29, 2023 2:29 pm It is not a hybrid. It is an artificially made aberration of P. maackii. Some aberrations are made by putting newly formed pupae in the fridge for some time. I also heard you can make spectacular aberrations by injecting a certain kind of chemical in pupae. I don't know how this particular specimen was made, though.

By the way, I just noticed Trehopr1's maackii pair are my friend Ted's(Tadao Shimba) specimens.

Kuni

Very interesting.

Freezing of pupae to effect morphological changes has been known, documented, and (how do I say?) no longer a secret for a long time.

The topic of chemical injection has been brought up, but I don't recall with what. It would be interesting to know, though I suppose those who have put the time and effort into experiments aren't going to readily give up their secrets.

Wow, benihikage92 thank you for the correction and the fascinating information !

I took the picture of that (now) "created" aberration at a friend's house and he just verbally told me it was a hybrid however, I neglected at the time to look at the data label
(which it had) to see what it had been crossed with.

I then got distracted in discussion about some other specimens I saw and I forgot to go back and view the label or show it in the photograph as I did with my pair that I had purchased.

Anyway, very interesting nonetheless and it just goes to show how small our world is becoming when you're friends specimens from Japan have now become mine.

He did some really excellent work by the way --- in every sense.