/

FROM Dept. of Biology The Open University Walton Hall, MILTON KEYNl:S

NEWSLETTER No. 19 May 1984

The Open Un iversity has an Open Day on 23rd June. Ther e will be displays i n most of the Departments , t he BBC studios will be open etc. I hope to have a display in t he Bi ology Depar tment featuring Aplopus (No.48), the sub ject of t he latest of our descriptions. Two year s ago t he Phasmid display gener a t ed a lot of i nt er es t and I hope to repeat t ha t success this year. On Sunday 5th August there will be a meet i ng of t he PSG hos t ed by Peter Cur r i e at t he Centr e for Life Studi es , Regen ts Park , London. Ther e is no formal agenda at present, and t he starting time of 1~ . O O am i s not mandatory! We hope t hat as many of you as pos6ihle will drop in to the Cent r e s ome t ime during the day. The committee will probably hold a short meet ing, s o i f you have any points t hat you think t hey should discuss could you let Judith Marshall (Cha irman) know, preferably beforehand. Her add~e6s is Dept. of Entomo logy ,British Mus eum (Natural History), Cr omwel l Road , London SW7 SED. I hope t hat those of you who ha ve s ur plus spec i mens will br i ng them along and exchange them wi t h (or donate them to) other members. It appears that most of t he es tabli shed cultur es are maintai ned by a small numb er of members only. The labour of keeping even a dozen different species safely established is hi gh , and so we should be t rying to spr ead t he labour of keeping all t he species goi ng . Of course, the chance of l osing a species from our list reduces as t he number of cultures i ncreases. The s upposedly common and 'uninteresti ng' species are probably more at risk t ha " the rare and spectacular.

The address labels are being computerised (courtesy of Ri char d Adams of this Dept . ) Wh en the f irst newsl etter arrives wi th a computer-generated label, could you check it very carefully, and s end me a note of any errors. Final ly, the t r aditional plea of all editors. The newsletter contains the copy provided by the contributor s . No contributions = a s ingle she et ed itorial and, let's face it , that can be the l east inter esting part of the whole newsl etter . So , t he next editors (Michael and Fr ance s Lazenby, 9 Oakl an ds Court , Nicol e Road , LONDON NW10 9AU ) are conf i dent that a steady stream of articles will arrive at their door. LIVESTOCK CO-OkDINATOR'S REPORT for period February to April 1984

Well: what a busy time this has been - the dry spring causing me to travel further in search of the ever dwindling hr amhl e . However it is nice to see the hedgerows now filling out with greenery - Hawthorn, Heech and many others will be a welcome alternative and help to fatten our sticks for the summer breeding programme.

My thanks to those memhers who have sent in their surplus eggs - for without them I could not have satisfied the many requests which I have received and happily dispatched. Also thanks to the few who kindly offered help re my request for a hardy evergreen Leguminous plant - such plant names 'Piptanthus lahurni folius' , 'Lotus corniculatus plenus·, ·Cytisus battandieri'and 'Lupinus arboreus' have been suggested and some cuttings received, just as soon uS 1 can get some plants and get them est~ \ished do a few feeding tests, then we may be nearer to success.

There are several species which are showing cause for concern - so please check your cultures and should you find a few surplus eggs then please forward them. The species in question (amongst others) are No's 6-7-10-17-27-28-29-30-37-39-54 ;; so pleas ~ - please have a look. - - ---'

I know I have mentioned before the condition known as "stagnant damp" - this in my view is the main cause of eggs failing to hatch and of sticks dying for no apparent reason. Try for the happy medium between dry & wet and keep the air fresh.

See you all at the next meeting. Bob (22)

From Hichael & Frances (No.3)

THE OVIPOSITION OF THE TWO-STRIPED WALKINGSTICK, ANISmmr.PHA BUPP:.ESTOIDES (STOLL) This pa?er by L.A. Hetrick describes some trUly fascinating behaviour, followin~ field observations of several thousand pairs. The female first di~s a small pit in the sandy soil, using both her front and middle legs. She then remains almost motionless with her head and the front of her body pointin~ downward into the deepest part of the pit and the tip of her abdomen far out of it. Next, she curves her abdomen upwards and forwards, releases an egg from nearly above her head and qUickly returns her abdomen to its normal position. After laying 8 to 10 e~gs, she uses her middle legs to scratch sand into the excavation and cover the eg~s she has laid. Then she moves away from the partly closed pit to find another egg-laying place. (The male usually remains attached durin~ all this.) For those who wish to get a copy of this paper through their library, the journal reference is: Proceedings of the Entomological Society of Washington, Volume 51 , Number 3, June 1949, pages 103 and 104. For those wishin~ to try to repeat these observations, don't forget that these give off a defensive spray which can injure ones eyes. They won't do the pit di~~ing for us!

ORXINES UACKLOTTI MATING M.H . Robinson (1964) observed a 3-stage process. The male first climbs on to the female, bends his tail into an S-shape and moves it about wider. her lef,t-hand side until it engages in a notch under the female's abdomen. He then immediately gets off to the left of the female and circles round her (while remaining attached) until he is on her right. Finally, he climbs back on (so that his tail passes under the female's tail) and mating can proceed . Sometimes, the male originally starts on the riv,ht and, following a similar procedure, ends up on the left. He then corrects this position by moving backwards along the body of the female until he can move his abdomen across to her other side. Finally, he moves forwards to take up the normal final position. Robinson's paper also includes observations on egg laying, and the full reference is: The Javanese Stick Orxines macklotti de Haan (, Phasmidae) by Michael H. Robinson, Entomologist's Monthly llagazine , Volume 100, rages 253-259 (1964) . ScnAPS OF :m CD - NOTES Last summer Frances has been feedin~ almost any leaves she can find to our large adult sticks: E. tiaratum (PSG species No.9), H. dilatata (18), E. calcarata (23), . ~ c h i n a t ~ (26) and Eurycantha sp (44). This ~ave the following results.

Plant Eaten very well Eaten Not eaten Not tried Wild rose (small leaved) All Cultivated rose (large leaved) 18 9, 23, 26 44 Hawthorn 18 9, 23, 26, 44 Japanese knotweed (Pol y gonun cuspidatum) 23, 26, 44 IS 9 Copper beech 44 23 9, 18, 26 Apple leaves 23, 26 9, 18, 44 English elm 18, 23 9, 26\, 44 ! Rhododendron 18, 23, 26, 44 9 Oak 23 18 9, 26, 44 Privet All Note: English elm dies very qUickly.

Newly hatched leaf insects (10) started on rowan (mountain ash) and soon also ate wild rose, hawthorn and bramble: they refused oak, beech and Japanese knotweed.

ALTERNATIVE FOOD PLANTS FOR SIPYLUS As many as 12 food plants are given in a 1981 paper by Ulf Carlberg ·(No . 28) as follows: blackberry (Rubus fruticosus), cloudberry (Rubus chamaemorus), common ; oak (Quercus robur), meadow-sweet (Filipendula ulmaria), mountain ash/rowan (Sorbus aucuparia), golden-leaf alder (Alnus glutinosa) , downy birch (Betula pubescens), silver birch (Betula verrucosa) , dog rose (Rosa canina), Norway maple (Acer platanoides), hazel (Corylus avelanna) and wych elm (Ulmus ~labrta). And S more food plants can be added from Newsletters 1 and 2: hawthorn (Crataegus monogyna), St John's Worts (Hypericum), Buddleia, geranium (Pelargonium) and Christmas cactus (Zygocactus) .

Tr easur er 's Report Pa u l Brock (26)

I am pleased to say that at the time of sending in this report (beginning of May) many members have re-joined and sent questionnaires in, leaving the Group on a sound footing with 117 paid-up members. A warm welcome to our new members, including several more from overseas. Thank you to those who recommend their friends join, the group does not actively advertise for new members, so this source of introduction is valuable.

Will all members please note the following address changes:-

83. Mrs. Joan Baines, 'Cartrefle', Station Road, Talybout-on-Usk, Nr. Brecon POwys, Wales.

192. Michael K.P . Yeh, P .O . Box 470, Ipoh, Malaysia (A dealer in insects, including Phasmids).

There has been a good response to the 'European Phasmida' supplement referred to in the previous newsletter. All have been issued to those paying subscribers, but I hold a small stock of this 11 page item, available to members for SOp including postage (printed by Stan Pack, with an attractive map of Europe on the front cover). ~1'003Al/C/002 07/12/~~ THE N£UAAL ~ASIS ~F CATALEPSY IN TH£ ~rIC~ INSEcr CVNICVLINA-IN31C.~o 2. rH= Reference No. Date 1 1~: ~~ TH ~ r . T( ~ ~ ~ ~ .nT~Q ~rJQ ·'~ ~ .~o TH: C~AQACT~QI~TrCs ~r T~f ~(TF~~ rlq Title rill Of" "USCL E/ I A ~ ~ S L f q U 5T~Q~~R J SAX~R ~ Author(s) ~ A ( H ~ E A ~ I ( H ~l aLOGrF. UNIY •• O-~7 ~' ~AIS!RSLAUTfR~. w. GFQ. . ru, CY ~J ~ :R"'t (~ '-(f). lQ6.Jl. 4' ~ (I). I~"l 1-~ Address ~ . VOL.'II) "'0.11 :- ""'TQ 't 001\0711:, "" Journal f~~ r._ur-~Ib'o co"~rol ~v~~~~ .~ICh ,~ ~~5Don,I~1. ror cnLol.o.~ " ~ l u ~ ' . d In ~he oo-~-loop c~nrl,ur1LI~" (Input: .tt.ulaLlon o~ t~~ re.orol BioI. Abstracts reference c " o r d o ~ o n o l or~~n: outo~t: .DI~_-rrp~u~nCU o~ ~Frl Fo~t ~.t~n.or tibia Summary ~u~cl. and SeTI slow _wL8nwor ti~io .usc14 ns •• 11 a. t~e rorce produc.d ~~ ~h ••xt~nsor tlola. _uscr_). COMp~rl,on or _oLar n~uron actlvltl •• and ~u~cle ~orce r.veols the '"DU~-OU~ov~ rela~'on.h'D~ or Lh. ftw~.n.or ~'b'ae .u~cl •• Thl~ ~u,cl@ h~hOyA~ ll~. ~ lo.-o~'s rtl~.r wlL~ 0 ~.oll Lt •• = o n ~ t. Q f\ t.. r'or ,.'",In", ("t"'.lt. .. and a l.,r'Jf! t.l_. con~t.'".N"I~ r'or roltln~ l,,(')ut.~. It. r~r~s ~h@ ~~cl~'ve Jow-o~s~ ~I Jt.~,. ror ro,..c~ ~roduCLton or ~h. co.ol.~~ ~~,~~ •• : 0 '" rr~~ly _oyl~q ~l~l,. Lh~ ~lo~Llc ~,.oo~rtl~~ or L~~ .uscl~~ ~ o . b l n ~ d .I~h t~~ Inert. .n~~ ~r ~h~ ~lblQ co~t.,.lbute to t,.h4 IO.-DO~~ r'lt~,. ~,..oo.rt.l~~. The ~u~cl~ do·, f\O~ con~,..lbut.~ t.o t.h~ h'~~-oo ... rllt.er ~,.op.,..t.l~' or t..~~ co.ol.t.~ ~Y1t.~~. OurlnQ ,..eo~t.lt.1Ye ~t.l.ulot.'on F fTI h~blt.uot.es ~utc~l~.

1 ~ J 1 ." , ..,,") HI7 0 0 IAI/(/ OQ' -; Tt (1( I", ~, I c r '; " "'1') L ~ ·Ar- I ..... ~ c r .., ·· " " A ~ .... I,)A A p ":\J, rw (" .. ..,l. 4 ' ... :; lJ 4.Tl' ~~VA. .• ~ N ' , j . <. - 1 \ 1 , ... N" (~ .A •...• • u . f "'lT Clll4iJL TI i) ' .I( ~ I {~ ' \'. 1 0" (1). ~"'-7" ~ ~ ~ V OL •."') ',1:).11 .' ... TQy ll"l "l 1 '!'o 1 "'.:", "' 'J~ , )'''' i JL J( ~ Y • ( ' IL l h ',V . ) I : ; T ~ t i'1 I IT I' ~ I" " · ....,·" o.l ., .) L .J Gy ;", DRllOUeTI).... 4 -Ft- () I ""~ . ~ 'U,VI 'H' ~ r.: F l'" . "\I ~ > ~ ~""AVl l n ( D L"' 1'l: A T 1 1')N T : qAT :}L ~J (~ICAL F ':' ,f ~ ' Comput er search terms

Comput er search t <'rms

Literature search David Robinson

As many of you will know I use the computer facilites provided by the U.K. Chemi cal Information Service to search for publications· concerning phasmids. Every two weeks, t he newly published literature is scanned by t he computer, and any references to phasmids are printed on cards. For references from Biological Abstracts (a computer typeset journAl) a summary of the contents of the reference is printed out. The BioResearch Index only provides the title of the reference. Examples of both types are shown here. Where t he paper is of interest to PSG members, I write to the author t o ask f or a copy - t he author's address i s given on t he card. At present, bo th ca r ds and reprints of articles are f iled under authors names. To make the maximum use of the data, we really need a comprehensive cross reference system. Anyone with spare time and an interest in phasmids now knows where to apply to for work~ (no pay) In the meantime, I shall continue to answer queries from you, but as the search has to be a manual one through all t he cards, service may be slow. I have had requests for back numbers of the newsletter. I can usually meet these requests if they are modest, but I don't have a copy of No. 11. Can anyone oblige by s ending a Xerox copy ? Stick Insect Records by Paul D. Brock (26)

Many Entomo~ogists' are aware that stick insects are the longest known insects~ and in these few notes I give details of some of these 'records'. Preserved specimens are known to shrink a little, so they could be even bigger in real life, and individuals of species are prone to vary in size.

Gerald Wood in 'The Guiness Book of Facts of Feats' 3rd Edition 1982 Guiness Superlatives Ltd, quotes Pharnacia serratipes (Gr ay from Indonesia as the longest, measuring up to 13", 330mm. from the tip of the head to tip of abdomen. The Pharnacia which occurs in various parts of Asia include various almost identical giants amongst the wingless females. Quite a few are sometimes commonly found in the Cameron Highlands, West Malaysia including serratipesJPharnacia maxima (Bat es) 10 .63" 270mm (largest BMNH specimen which is 20.8" 510mm with the legs fully extended) . and Pharnacia acanthopus (Bf6m.) The latter is the species being reared fairly easily in captivity on bramble, and other foodplants. Michael Yeh tells me that the size of the reared specimens i.e. around 10" 253 mm (16" 405mm overall) is much the same as those in the Wild, and this is confirmed by the eggs being identical in size (Brunner ? __~ quotes 240-243 mm). Pharnacia males have reached up to 18Omm.

?harnacia are very thin in comparison with their length, as are all the true 'giants'.

Phobaeticus fruhstorferi from Burma, has measured up to 11. 81" 300 mm.

Hermarchus species are plumper than Pharnacia and include Hermarchus apollonius{Westwood) 235 mm, and Hermachus PythO ~ius (westwood )230 mm both from Fiji and other Islands around Papua New Guinea. The sole Hermarchus species in my collection from Papua New Guinea is 225 mm (390 mm overall).

From the Australian region, Acrophylla wuelfingi /Redt. which used to be the 'giant' in captivity in this country, before the arrival of Ph ~rnacia reaches some 230 mm, as does the similar Acrophylla titan ( ~lea y).

Phasma reinwardtii ~ e Ha ~r lfrom Papua New Guinea at 200 mm is a species with very attractive large yellow and black blotched wings and a heavily spined thorax.

From Africa come the winged f a l ~ p hu s usually brown species, often !Iv'! some 245 mID. e.g. Palophus titar fJ?~~edt (Malapri etc) . I Phibalo soma phylli num (Gr ay') reaches some 220 mm. Achrioptera (~) sPinosissima/:s a very attractive Madagascan species reaching 240 mm.

Others are close to or over 200 rom. including other species of the genera listed above. A common error in many books around the early 1900's is to state a Haetiella species (probably echinata judging by the illustrations - c al Led Gray's Spring Stick Insect) is 12" in length. It is, in fact , less than half this size. But this is one of the many plumper species, considerably wider than the true 'giants'. Heteropteryx dilatata ,(par ~ finSOn ) (Malaysia) enabled me to have an entry in the Guiness book of Records, as a specimen in my collection is 6.3" 160 mm, which includes it amongst the heaviest insects - estimated weight 65g. 2 .290z. in its egg-laying prime. v.,., I Gerald Wood states Eurycantha horrida Bois~ t (PNG and Islands) reaches 145 mm. but my specimens are 127 mm 161 mm, and the BMNH has specimens of EurYcantha portentosa Kirby (Indonesia) reaching up to 180 mm, and plumper still! Horrida for example is much larger than the commonly reared calcanta Lucas.

If you have any bigger than these, you may have a record!

Notes on Aplopus species David Grimwade (12)

Obtained as ova from Micheal Lazenby (3) at the AES exhibition in 1982. The eggs hatched after about 7 months at room temperature. My adult females had a length of up to 150 mm, measured from head to tip of abdomen. Colour: Male - Dramatic pale red wings with black veins; legs and head bright fluorescent green. Flight poor, downards only. Female - vestigial wings; body colours very variable. Prominent ovi- positor. I have had the following coloured females: 1. Dark brown. 2. Lime green back• ground colour, darker green underside, dirtY-light green legs, lime green head. Abdominal segments have orange posterior margin. Abdomen and thorax with mottled brown markings. 3. Dark brown/khaki background colour to body, head and legs. Legs, head, abdomen and thorax had dark brown/black mottled pattern. Abdominal segments had a deep chestnut red posterior margin. Dark green underside. Habits: My male was a prolific playboy visiting a different female every night. The females lay many eggs, using a flick of the abdomen. Room temperature is O.K. Food: My newly hatched nymphs fed quite happily on wild rose, and were kept in sandwich boxes, cleaned regularly. Adults feed on wild rose and garden rose - mine accepted bramble much less readily and didn't particularly thrive on it. It would be useful to find an evergreen plant that nymphs take readily. I have really enjoyed keeping Aplopus; they are quite easy to rear, and very attractive. However, they are somewhat irritating in their feeding habits - whoever heard of a stick refusing bramble~

Flight in female David Robinson

Ulf Carlberg ( 28) has recently published a paper on flight in Sipyloidea sipylus fema~es (Zool. Jb.Physiol. 88: 9 -14 1984). He released females from an initial height and then plotted the direction in which the female flew. From the plots he was able to measure the distance travelled, the velocity of flight, and the landing height relative to the starting height. Ulf distinguishes between active flight and gliding flight, and concludes that during the initial phase after take-off the insect is using true gliding flight. The latter phase of flight is a mixture of active forward flight and glide flight. Of course, flight activity is likely to be correlated with temperature. These experiments were performed at 24 QC ± O.5 Q C. The 1Llgbt veLoclty was ~.~~ - ~.2~ m~ -1, ~h~~h is slower than a locust (2-6ms-1) but in the same range as a tortoiseshell butterfly (0.5 - 1.7mc-1). Ulf suggests that in this species flight is typically used for defence, though it may also have a dispersal function. Spontaneous flight in females Sipyloidea is difficult to observe, so Ulf released his experimental insects from his fingers at different heights above the ground. The male Sipyloidea often flies spontaneously, as I know to my cost, but I don't think their flight has abeen analysed in detail yet.

Editors note May I thank contributors for sending me typed copy. Jan Owers typed the rest for me. PSG/48 : APLOPUS SPP. CuIture History The original specimens were found in the Dominican Republic by Miguel (no.72). First Described Aplopus - Gray, 1835 :34. There are 19 described species in this genus, at least 4 of which occur in Dominica. So it may be some time before this insect is identified to the species level. Range Dominican Republic, probably also surrounding areas. Adults : Differences appear to have arisen between cultures reared in this oountry and the specimens in their natural environment. Adult Dominican females were 15-16cm in body length; those over here measure some 12-14cm. Body colour appears to be very variable, depending upon toodplant and culture conditions. 'British' specimens are generally dull green or straw colour with butf brown legs. Forlegs measure 5·50m, midlegs and hindlegs 4·6cm. They can vary to all brown or all green, with a range in each of these colours. The head is dull green with large grey eyes and bears two 1 rge spines. Dorsally, the thorax has numerous small spines, these . becoming pimples ventrally. There is a small pair of wings which span about 3cm and are completely useless tor tlight. They are transparent, heavily mottled with black and are covered by brown elytra, also speckled in black. The cerci are small and there is a large sheath - like operculum, used to flick eggs away. The antennae are about 6cm long. Dominican females had less ot the green colouration, being shades ot brown, varying to grey. The male is a much slenderer and otten handsome creature. J. I' Usually butf brown or pale ,,'" green above ~ A.A. , ~ ' they are r»: bright ;71 ;

~ - j -; V (

" ~ J emerald green lI / ! ~ below, wi th the ,f' ),; segmental joints ;I. picked out in cream. There is a cream stripe along the side of the thorax. Body length about 9·5cm with antennae at about 8cm. The legs are pale green, forelegs 5cm, midlegs 4·5cm and hindlegs 6cm. There is a series of spines on the ventral surface of the femurs. The head is buff brown, mottled with green and also has two large spines. The wings are well developed and span 9cm. They are transparent, heavily clouded with rose-pink, with the veins highlighted in brown. There is a black patch at the base. Elytra are brown with a white stripe along their leading edge. Original males were dark brown above and green below. They measured 11-12cm in length. In Dominica, adult males live for 5-6 months but females can live for 8-9 months. Due to this longevity, nymphs and 'second generation' adults can be found together with their mothers. British specimens generally live for at least 6 months as adults, many much longer. TonY's(no.1) first adults lived for 1~ years. Both sexes are very fond of water and will readily drink when sprayed. It is likely that they drink often in Dominica due to the high humidity and intense heat. Ova : The egg is oval in shape, about 4mm long and 2mm wide. Generally cream in colour it is heavily mottled with grey. The surface is minutely hairy. The micropylar plate is cream (s e below). The operculum is a raised cone bearing a series of ridges with a central circular gap. The female lays a large number of eggs, sometimes as many as ten per night in culture. It is likely that this is to counteract high predation in the natural environment. Egg hatch is often very high - usually about 90~. ,'/ Nympha : The nymphs hatch in about 4 months from eggs kept dry with a small amount of moisture. They can be sexed as soon as they hatch - females at 2·6cm long are larger than males at 2·2cm. Both sexes have green patches on the legs the body being brown. As they grow they assume a variety of colours. They are gregarious and feed at night. Defence : Both sexes display their wings as flash colours but this seems to be of little use in the female. They will walk or run away from danger quickly and are sometimes a problem to handle. The females emit a pungent smell, males do so occasionally. It is said that the adults can bite. They may attempt this occasionally but cannot penetrate the skin. Foodplabts : The natural foodplant is Guava where they seem to feed on small bushes not the larger trees. In this country some cultures will eat bra-ble, but the best food is wild rose or rambling rose. They will also eat Holm Oak, Hawthorn, Eucalyptus, raspberry, loganberry and fuchsia. Nymphs will often only accept rose to begin with, then eating more when they are older.

Comments : An interesting speo~es to keep, but it has presented problems, mainly with nymphal mortality. A temperature of at least 75°F and high humidity is probably ideal with a fairly large cage needed. Once the nymphs are past the first instar they are easy to rear and the adults are hardy and very long lived. Another species of Aplopus (no.61) has recently arrived in ~'\..~'\..'-~ , ~_ ~~"\,o\;.~ ~T'~~~ .,,~ 'ub ~"b."b-n."~~1i~ 'lit> no.\"'e. be fUOlA _ A ~ A Ai.~"'.A."'.An.t)o - _hfu.ua.~"'\ ...'t'hfl:IV' ,J').p ..f.-4 en~ \,,~ li~.I'G'rl - o-rown mottling and are larger than 48. There is a cream capitular knob and the micropylar plates are differently shaped. c3no.48 Next species to be covered is no.29 SBU1 'z bends'. Please send me ANY information you have on this as soon as possible Thanks, Alan.