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Newsletter 019.Pdf / 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 species 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 insects 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 Insect Orxines macklotti de Haan (Phasmatodea, 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 SIPYLOIDEA 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).
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