Cubaris sp. "Panda king"
"Panda king" isopods are very common in the hobby, however, the species has not been identified as a known species or formally described yet. Most sources seem to agree that they originate from Vietnam or Thailand, but their exact origin is blurry. Additionally, their genus is sometimes considered a wastebasket taxon, meaning it is used to place species that do not fit elsewhere. They may end up being reclassified in another genus at some point, or properly identified in the meantime, they will keep being an enigmatic isopod.
So, what do we know about the panda king? They tend to burrow and will be happier with some substrate depth. They are a bit shy and will conglobate when they feel threatened. As they are shy and burrowers, unless you get a large number of individuals as your starter colony, you will have to be patient to observe them. As your colony grows, you will see them a bit more. In terms of food, they don’t differ much from other isopods, they seem to like protein in smaller quantities than Porcellio species or even Cubaris murina. You can feed them fish flakes, spirulina, and vegetables. As with all isopods, they need constant access to calcium and dried leaves.
Several panda king morphs exist, all morphs seem to have been selectively bred, the only wild-type phenotype seems to be the classic black and white “panda king”. The white panda king morph is also occasionally called Cubaris sp. “Polar bear”.
“[The red panda king morph] was developed in the USA and isolated from a single individual that appeared with a brown color.” according to exuvium.net. Subsequently, the citrus morph was derived from the red panda king, according to both weirdpets.ph and exuvium.net.
