Motyxia Bioluminescent Millipedes

[Peter Clausen]

Had a wonderful time collecting these in the mountains of California recently. Motyxia are the only known millipedes in the world that are bioluminescent. That means they glow like fireflies through a chemical process, internally. They also happen to fluoresce under UV light.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioluminescence

More info: http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/05/150504-glowing-millipedes-evolution-insects-animals-california/

A video on YouTube:

 

[Mantidaddicted]

Woah! That's so cool. Never knew we had these in California. That video was very soothing, very interesting millipedes! 

 

[Hisserdude]

Very awesome, just ordered three from you yesterday! I really hope they arrive OK!  How do yours seem to be doing? Holding up well so far?

 

[BringontheBugs]

These are absolutely amazing! They are already very attractive and colorful millipedes and then they also glow in the dark....Extraordinary!

Would have also ordered some from you like Hisserdude, but I spent the last of my money on my new Gonatista grisea nymphs about a day before you listed them on your site( still love the G.grisea though!.)

Very awesome, just ordered three from you yesterday! I really hope they arrive OK!  How do yours seem to be doing? Holding up well so far?

Hope they do good for you when you receive them Hisserdude!

 

[Hisserdude]

These are absolutely amazing! They are already very attractive and colorful millipedes and then they also glow in the dark....Extraordinary!

Would have also ordered some from you like Hisserdude, but I spent the last of my money on my new Gonatista grisea nymphs about a day before you listed them on your site( still love the G.grisea though!.)

Hope they do good for you when you receive them Hisserdude!

Thanks, I hope so too! They may arrive dead though, as I went the cheap way out and used priority shipping, didn't have enough for express. I know that millipedes are pretty fragile shippers, and it's pretty hot over here now, so I honestly wouldn't be too surprised if they ended up dead. Still, it was killing me thinking of not getting some, and I'd rather there be a slim chance of them arriving OK than missing out on what could be a once in a lifetime opportunity.

 

[Peter Clausen]

Hey, Hisserdude, I didn't realize that was you that placed that order. I saw your first name and thought for a second it might be you but I swear your email address had the word "miss" in it and I actually knew a girl back in school with the same first name minus the change of one letter. 

In any case, I'll guarantee these to you because you need to have them. I swear you are a bit of an enigma to me. One of the most prolific participants across so many forums and yet for some reason we haven't done a lot of business together. You're always among the first to report any problems with spammers and such on Roachforum (yeah, I need to get the software over there updated). I really appreciate your contributions to this hobby and so I'm doubling your millipede order, for free!

Anyway, this is a little off topic so back to it.

I have been very pleasantly surprised to see that none of these millipedes have died since I received them (shipped to myself through 3 day transit from California). They are doing great and show no signs of slowing down.

Just tonight I observed them to be blinking on and off. Not quite rapid fire, but a distinct on/off. They aren't super bright, but glowing is glowing and it's still hard to believe that something so cool is also doing so well in captivity. Here's a link to that paper that has started to float around for those that haven't seen it. It's dated and the millipedes were named something else back then, but it's still very encouraging!

http://www.biolbull.org/content/102/2/100.full.pdf

 

[CosbyArt]

Very strange millipedes, can't say I ever heard of them before. The UV is great, but the blinking is even better.

 

[Hisserdude]

Hey, Hisserdude, I didn't realize that was you that placed that order. I saw your first name and thought for a second it might be you but I swear your email address had the word "miss" in it and I actually knew a girl back in school with the same first name minus the change of one letter. 

In any case, I'll guarantee these to you because you need to have them. I swear you are a bit of an enigma to me. One of the most prolific participants across so many forums and yet for some reason we haven't done a lot of business together. You're always among the first to report any problems with spammers and such on Roachforum (yeah, I need to get the software over there updated). I really appreciate your contributions to this hobby and so I'm doubling your millipede order, for free!

Anyway, this is a little off topic so back to it.

I have been very pleasantly surprised to see that none of these millipedes have died since I received them (shipped to myself through 3 day transit from California). They are doing great and show no signs of slowing down.

Just tonight I observed them to be blinking on and off. Not quite rapid fire, but a distinct on/off. They aren't super bright, but glowing is glowing and it's still hard to believe that something so cool is also doing so well in captivity. Here's a link to that paper that has started to float around for those that haven't seen it. It's dated and the millipedes were named something else back then, but it's still very encouraging!

http://www.biolbull.org/content/102/2/100.full.pdf

Oops, so sorry I didn't see this sooner, admittedly I don't browse this forum as much as the Allpet roaches and Beetle forums.  :innocent:  Yeah I used my mom's PayPal to order the millipedes so your email went to her email, which then got forwarded to another one of her emails and then finally back to mine.

I really appreciate that, thank you so much!  I've actually been collecting all the darkling beetles I've seen to try and sell or trade to you but alas, they've been a bit scarce lately. Unfortunately southwestern Idaho seems a little devoid of insect life other than Tenebrionids. We do have some pretty cool Tenebs though, if only I could find some... I love the forums, and it's actually where I spend most of my time, so thank you for creating and moderating these great forums!

Thank you so very much, that is very kind of you! I can't wait until they arrive, I already got their cage ready and inoculated with spingtails, and I'll be keeping them in a cool room. Luckily they don't seem to be as temperature sensitive as other Polydesmids.

Again, thanks! 

 

[Hisserdude]

Got three of these from BIC, two females and a male!

Here are some pictures of them:

My male is currently curled up like this, I'm hoping he's just resting...

The cage:

BTW, for the substrate I am using a mix of crushed dead leaves, rotten cottonwood, fermented Traeger sawdust, and some rotten wood from an unknown tree sp. There is a layer of dead leaves on top of the substrate for the millipedes to hide under. The substrate is a few inches deep, hopefully they will reproduce for me and make some egg chambers!

 

[Hisserdude]

My male died shortly after obtaining him and my largest female died a few days ago, however it seems these guys have been busy!  Found a clump of eggs in the substrate, just thought I'd share some photos of them here:

Hopefully they'll hatch for me! 

 

[spider_creations]

If you ever sell them let me know I would love to raise this species! I think Peters all sold out 

My male died shortly after obtaining him and my largest female died a few days ago, however it seems these guys have been busy!  Found a clump of eggs in the substrate, just thought I'd share some photos of them here:

Hopefully they'll hatch for me! 

 

[BringontheBugs]

Awesome, Glad that they are reproducing for you, let me know as well if you ever end up selling any!

 

[Hisserdude]

Awesome, Glad that they are reproducing for you, let me know as well if you ever end up selling any!

Thanks!

If you ever sell them let me know I would love to raise this species! I think Peters all sold out 

I'll let you guys know if I ever sell any, won't be selling any for a generation or two because for all we know the pedelings could have a very low survival rate, and the captive bred adults may not be as inclined to breed as the WC adults, as has been reported with captive bred AGBs.

 

[Sticky]

Very strange millipedes, can't say I ever heard of them before. The UV is great, but the blinking is even better.

Maybe its morse code?