ISSN 0268-3806

Chairman: Mrs Judith Marshall Department of Entomology British Museum (Natural History) Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD

Membership: Paul Brock (Phone 0753-79447) "Papillon", 40 Thorndike Road Slough, Berks SL2 1SR

NEWSLETTER NO. 28 September 1986

Once again thanks to Peter Curry (No. 91) for opening up the Centre for Life Studies for the Group's summer meeting. Some 30 members attended (including three from abroad), about half of whom gave away some 20 different species - thanks also to Tim Branney (No. 239) for coping with the surplus. Paul Brock (No. 26) showed his new video, which included shots of some "British" sticks in their natural habitats in this country. Three members showed the very latest species ­ 91, 92 and 93~ The Committee discussed a proposal from Peter Curry to build up, in conjunc­ tion with the British Museum (Natural History), an up-to-date reference collection of all phasmid species within the Group, showing eggs, nymphs and adults and including morphological variations. As part of this, Tony James (No. 1) offered to collect a similar file of photographs, and members are invited to send these (preferably in colour) to him for inclusion. (Peter recommends Kodachrome 64· or 25 for goo d colour rendering.)

COMPUTER LIST OF MEMBERS' NAMES AND ADDRESSES - Members are asked to note that their names and addresses are held in a computer by David Robinson (No. 29) for generating address labels (for posting Newsletters, etc), in case anyone wishes to object , This list is registered under the recent Data Protection Act. and its release for other purposes without the consent of the individuals is prohibited.

AGM for 1987 will provisionally be on Saturday lOth January in the Conversazione Room at the British Museum (National History) in South Kensington.

AMATEUR ENTOMOLOGISTS' SOCIETY EXHIBITION - Saturday 11th October 1986 at the Hounslow Civic Centre in Lampton Road, open from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Your Group has two tables - you can bring your interesting sticks/photos, etc, for display. Please bring any give-aways pre-packed, with food, as suitable starting cultures, and be sure you collect any leftovers at the end of the day. Volunteers are needed to run the stand, please.

LIVESTOCK SUPPLIERS PANEL - Peter Wilcox's (No. 24 0 ) phone number is now 0344­ 50021.

WANTS AND SURPLUSES Member 132 wants eggs of species 2, 10, 11, 16, 17, 26, 29, 30, 37, 49, 57, and offers eggs of 1 3, 23, 31 , 7 3. Member 232 has surplus nymphs of species 9. Member 359 wants species 6, 7, 15, 16, 20, 26, 30 , 58, 70, 74, 78, and offers in exchange eggs or nymphs of 1, 2, 5, 48, 84, 86; eggs of 9, 22, 23, 32, 73, 75, 85; and nymphs of 4, 76 (eggs only to and from the UK please - Eds). His name and address is Mr Xavier Singy, 55 ch. des Rannaux, 1296 Coppet, Switzerland. THE NORTH LONDON ENTOMOLOGICAL FAIR was much less crowded than the AES Exhibition ­ perhaps just as well, as your Editors had only 7 species to give away (from 3 members). echinata received their first public showing, and the House at the London Zoo was recruited to membership (with 4 others) • Sadly there was more emphasis on dead butterflies at the Fair.

NEW REPRINTS FOR THE LIBRARY by David Robinson (no. 29) I have recently received two parcels of reprints for the library, and so I am providing a list in case members wish to consult them: Carlberg, U., Chemical defence in Anisomorpha buprestoides, Zool. Anz., Jena 215 (1985) 177-88. Carlberg, U., Chemical defence in Extatosoma tiaratum, Zool. Anz., Jena 214 (1985) 185-92. Carlberg, U., Secondary defence in Carausius morosus, Zool. Anz., Jena 215 (1985) 373-84. Carlberg, U., Phasmida: a biological review, Zool. Anz., Jena 216 (1986) 1~18. Hofmann, T., & Bassler, U., Response characteristics of single trochanteral campariform sensilla in the stick insect Carausius morosus, Physiological Entomol. 11 (1986) 17-21. Bassler, U., Afferent control of walking movements in the stick insect Cuniculina impigra, J. Oomp. Physiol. A 158 (1986) 345-62. Bassler, U., On the definition of central pattern generator and its sensory control, BioI. Cybern. 54 (1986) 65-9.

NEW ZEALAND PHASMIDS ESTABLISHED IN SOUTH~WEST ENGLAND by Paul D. Brock (No. 26) This article in the AES Bulletin (Vol. 44, August 1985, pages 133-6) includes notes on their distribution, and foodplants for A. prasina.

COLOUR VARIATIONS IN THE THAILAND STICK INSECT (PSG 22) by Peter Wilcox (No. 240) When I first started keeping this stick insect two years ago all the adult females were brown in colour. The brown tended to vary from light to dark. All n~phs were green throughout all instars. I kept them at a temperature of about 0C 200C during the day and at 5-10 at night (perhaps falling to zero on very cold 0C nights) during the winter, and at 24 upwards to maybe 28 C during the summer days; during the summer nights I did not heat them at all. I sprayed them regularly with tap water once or twice a day during the summer. The second year I decided to change my method. About February/March I 0C switched off the heating so that the daytime temperatures fell to between 14 and 200C (lower in really cold spells). During the night my room is not heated at all so that the night-time temperatures remained as before. All the female nymphs which turned adult after I switched off the heating came out green; two females which were already adult remained brown (the green was approximately the same shade as bramble) • The male Thailand stick did not appear to change colour at all, although I did notice that the nice dark blue patches on the first thoracic segment were not there ·the second year; these patches were previously noticeable on only one or two adult males. I have noticed the insects copulating on only one occasion the second year; in the first year they were joined for days at a time and the males were always fighting over the females. All were fed mainly on bramble during the two years.

UNUSUAL MATING BEHAVIOUR IN A NEW PHILIPPINES SPECIES by Eric van Gorkom (No. 250) When a pair meet they shiver and the female raises her ovipositor at right angles to her body. The male then glides down this ovipositor to reach the right spot to mate. SOME NEW SPECIES FROM PERU by Xavier Singy (No. 349) Oreophoetes peruanas (?) (PSG 84) is illustrated below. Their peculiarity is that they are coloured red, especially the males. Their eggs are like black lentils, but with white opercula. When the insects are disturbed they sometimes eject a white, odorous liqued. They eat ferns. Their life cycle is about 7 months and they are easy to rear at high humidity.

x.s.

Paraphasma rufipes (PSG 85) females look like Creoxylus spinosus males, but they are 2~ times as large and completely dark. Their wings are pinky red. This species is quite difficult to rear. Dyme raraspinosa (PSG 86) females look like PSG 17 ("warty") but they do not have any wart and can be green or dark brown; the male is always grey­ brown. Both sexes are coloured blue at the base of their front legs. They eat bramble, prefer a high humidity and are very prolific. All these three species were found by Didier Mottaz (No. 45) during a trip to Peru. (Since the Group is acquiring new species much faster than we can issue Species Reports, notes on new species (ideally with drawings) are always welcome. Please keep them short (but including any unusual features) so as not to pre-empt any eventual Report too much. Eds)

PHENACEPHORUS APPENDICULATUS (= P. CORNUCERVI) FEMALE BEHAVIOUR by Alain Deschandol (No. 238) The females of this species are very good twig mimics and when they are motionless their bodies take up very curious shapes. I have recorded some of them (see below), but I think others exist~ 2'3:4 ­

ULF CARLBERG'S PAPERS by Michael and Frances (No. 3)

PART 3. E. tiaratum adults "Copulation in E. tiaratum" (Zool. Anz., Jena 210 (1983) 5/6, 340-56) reports results on 4 males and 4 females. Between the same couple, matings were separated rather than consecutive, the period between their matings varying from 2 to 36 days. The total number of matings throughout an adult's life varied from one to 12. Insects which did most mating seemed to mate more often with each other; insects which did less mating mated more often with insects which did more mating, and insects which did least mating mated with those which did most mating and not with those which only did more mating. The females started laying 33 days after becoming adult. The sexual activity was high during a relatively short period around this time and very low or absent near the end of their lives. Smaller males more often mated with larger females than did larger males with smaller females. This is shown to tie in with the geometry of the particular mating positions taken up by this species (6 basic mating positions in phasmids are described). Male defensive behaviour observed included odour production, wing display, and active attack with the spiny hind legs. Sound production by fast wing beating was also observed. All these results are related to those for other phasmids. "Defensive behaviour in adult female E. tiaratum" (Ent. mono Mag. 116 (1980) 133-8) describes 3 primary defences of body colour, nocturnal activity and wing­ size reduction, and 7 secondary defences of displays, immobility, active escape, sound production, defensive secretion, attacking the predator and autotomy (leg shedding). Results are given on combinations of secondary defences in 13 females. "Some long-antenna'd specimens of E. tiaratum described by W.W. Froggatt, 1905" (Ent. mon. Mag. 115 (1979) 29-30) describes females with antennae lengths of 48 mm. Froggatt's original reference is Agric. Gaz. N.S.W. 16(6) (1905) 515-20. "A gynandromorph specimen of E. tiaratum" (Zool. Anz., Jena 207 (1981) 5/6, 320-2) describes an insect with a male head and right-hand side (including a wing), but with female characteristics on its left-hand side. Gynandromorphs with female bodies but large hind wings were observed by Rumbucher (1975).

PART 4. Baculum species

"Diversity in the genus Baculum Saussure" (Zool. Jb. Syst. 110 (1983) 127-40) studies B. impigrum (?) and the unidentified Thailand species (PSG 22), and so divides this genus into 2 groups. The first, the artemis group, is characterised by mainly parthenogenetic reproduction, flat eggs and ant mimicry at first instar, and includes PSG 22. The second, the extradentatum group, is characterised by bisexual reproduction, spermatophores, round eggs and stick mimicry at first instar, and includes B. extradentatum and B. impigrum (?). No copulation took place between a female PSG 22 and 2 male B. extradentatum over a period of 3 weeks. Other defences are described, and tables given of the colours of the head, body and legs at the various instars of the 2 species. When an adult female PSG 22 shed a leg due to careless handling, the leg twitched up to 7 hours later in response to mechanical stress or large temperature differences. '!his reflex may confuse predators into thinking the leg is alive and the, motionless, insect dead. "Development period of eggs of a Baculum species" (Ent. mono Mag. 117 (1981) 31-4) gives results on B. impigrum (?). At 18-220C, for parthenogenetic eggs, the hatching ratio was 69%, the development period 73 days, and 82% hatched at night; for fertilised eggs the corresponding figures were 93%, 69 days and 78%. '!he variation in development period was 63-110 days for parthenogenetic eggs and 45-143 days for fertilised eggs .. "Storage of sperms in Phasmida" (Zeol. Jb. Anat. 106 (1981) 568-71) found successful storage periods of 6-10 weeks for 2 females of the unidentified 'Ihailand species (PSG 22). Since the hatched nymphs were not sexed, the devel­ opment period and hatching percentage were used to measure the degree of 0C, fertilisation. At 21-25 for fertilised eggs the development period was 46 days and hatching ratio 79%, and for parthenogenetic eggs the corresponding figures were 53 days and 52%. Most insects hatched at night. BACULUM EXTRADENI'ATUM (?) by Xavier Singy (No. 349) After getting Baculum extradentatum as described in Newsletter 13, I received others from a College in Geneva. They were browner and smaller, but I thought it was because of the dry atmosphere in which they were reared. I waited until the next generation, and there were always a group of different Baculum, brown and small. I became interested in them and saw other differences. Then I thought they were B. impigrum, but their ovipositors are not as large as drawn in Newsletter 27 (page 7). So what are these? I show the more important differences in the drawing.

MiJ less Points on a'Jorrlen ~"ul

BACULUM IMPIGRUM (?) by Burghard Hausleithner (No. 132)

PSG No. 5 and No. 24 are the same species, and No. 24 is never B. impigrum~ Jonathan Cocking's (No. 82) drawing of the female in the last Newsletter Species Report (page 7) shows the head of B. extradentatum. Brunner's types of B. impigrum are in the Vienna Museum - see my drawing of the female's head in the last Newsletter (page 7) - and these types are different from No. 24. (More comments on this problem, please. Eds)

VIBRATING HETEROPTERYX DILATATA by Peter Wilcox (No. 240) When I picked up one of my second instar females and touched her antennae, which were being held backwards, she held them backwards more, let go of most of my finger, and hung by her two mid-thorax legs. As I touched her antennae more, I felt a deep vibration through my finger but could see only a very slight vibration in the insect herself. The vibrations lasted only for about 1 second, then about 2 seconds later there was another 1 second burst, and this was repeated for about 10-15 seconds in all.

PSG No. 18: HETEROPTERYX DILATATA (Parkinson) by Mel Herbert (No. 232) Drawings of adults and eggs by John Gilbert (No. 274) and of nymphs by Alain Deschandol (No. 238)

Range: , West Malaysia.

Adults: The adult female of this species is a truly impressive creature, remarkable for her large size, attractive colouring and fascinating behaviour. The maximum length of females is about 160 mm with a weight of about 65 g, making this a real giant amongst insects. It is one of the heavily built species, with a stout body and legs, and is heavily armed with spines of various sizes. 28:6 ­

Females are well camouflaged for life amongst tropical foliage. Their stout body is somewhat compressed and approximates in shape to a large leaf, their ovipositor resembling the drip point typical of the leaves of rain and cloud forest plants. The upper surface is a bright leaf green whilst the underside is counter-shaded in dark green; there is a thin white stripe around the edge of the body, separating the upper light green and lower dark g r e e n halves. The body spines probably also help in camouflaging the creature and are paler in colour, with a brown tip. The small wings, which are usually hidden by the elytra, range from pale pink to plum in colour. There is generally little variation in colour, though a specimen at the 1983 AES Exhibition was coloured mustard yellow on top and golden brown underneath.

. ­ Adult males have a body type similar to males of Extatosoma tiaratum though they are larger and much more spiny. They are mottled brown in colour with white edging to the elytra. The wings are attractively coloured in dark plum with black markings. As with most phasmids, males mature earlier than females; Under my conditions males take about 12 months from hatching to their last ecdysis, whilst females take about 15 months. Mating takes place within a few days of this last skin change and is then repeated at regular intervals, the males producing very soft looking spermatophores. After their final skin change the females feed heavily for about 3 months before beginning to lay eggs. This process is interesting in that the eggs are actively hidden. The female climbs down from the foodplant and uses her powerful body to drive her ovipositor into the substrate where the eggs are laid, usually in a batch of from 5 or 6, up to as many as 30. Several days may then elapse before the process is repea~ed . 28: 7 ­

Cl ear l y an egg-laying medium of some kind must be provided for these insects. Many people provide containers of peat for their Heteropteryx, but I find this messy when collecting the eggs and also the adults sometimes have difficulty in laying in a small container. I prefer to provide a thick layer (10-15 c m) of moss, the kind that is raked from lawns. This has just a little p eat added in order to make it slightly h eavier. It is reported that females may simply drop several eggs at a time, but I have not observed this when an adequate egg-laying medium has been provided.

Ova: The eggs, as would be expected, are rather large. They are about 7-8 mm in length and grey in colour, though when damp they darken to almost black. The micropylar plate is an interesting four-armed shape and the operculum a flattish disc. Unfortunately hatching percentages are generally low and one is doing well to achieve about 15%. If the eggs are incubated at op), high temperatures (80-8S many become infected with mould and bacteria and losses may be as high as 30% or even more. This op) problem is much reduced at lower temperatures (70-7S when incu­ bation takes about 11 months, but may take as long as 14 months. I keep the eggs half buried in seed compost with the operculum upwards and spaced about 1 cm apart. This allows easy inspection and any infected eggs may be removed quickly, before the contamina­ tion can spread to the remainder.

Nymphs: On hatching, the nymphs are robust and easily raised. Male nymphs usually have a white cross marking near their back legs and they also have a small bump under their tails. Pemales have a tiny ovipositor and so sexing, even at this early stage, is easy. Males can be more common than females and their proportion seems to be greater when the eggs are incubated at higher temperatures. The ratio may then be as high .as 3:1. 3~ in:>tsr

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First instar nymphs are quite active and behave hysterically when disturbed. They feed well but growth is quite slow. This is one of the species which shed hanging on by their back legs only. Larger sizes often shed around dawn. Both sexes are brown in the early stages, but males become particularly attractive as they develop, some having segments coloured in different shades and some a white stripe down the middle of their back. Females remain brown for some time, and only become green just before they moult to sixth instar. Both sexes tend to become darker and redder at dusk. ~g: 8 ­

Defence: The spines on the female's head, thorax and abdomen are used for passive defence; those on the hind legs are employed in the 's active defence behaviour. This behaviour is most interesting and goes through several stages. When threatened, the insect's first reaction is to t ense her body and legs. Also, the antennae are drawn back over the body (they are often held one forward, one back when the creature is at rest). If the danger continues then the second stage of the behaviour is to threaten the offender in two ways. The body is arched and the hind legs splayed, hence displaying the large and very sharp spines they carry, and also the elytra are rubbed together producing a strange crackling or hissing noise. The latter is certainly very effective against humans - it takes some nerve to hold on to a hissing Heteropteryx and I am sure that some unfortunate insects have been dropped as a result. If the threats fail then the creature proves her point (no idle threats these), as the spines are driven home with surprising force and great speed, and are quite caPable of inflicting a painful would. The spines are used repeatedly and the creature makes little attempt to flee. Michael and Frances (No. 3) report that adult females can bite painfully, even drawing blood, but I have not observed this myself. Males display similar defensive behaviour to that of females though they are unable to "hiss". Instead, their first response is usually to play dead, dropping off th~ foodplant and lying on their backs. If this fails then they are in a good position to use their spines, though these are less forbidding than those of the female. Males will also stand on their forelegs with their bodies arched backwards, hence displaying their bright wings and their armed hind legs. Occasionally they also extend their elytra out at right angles, like aeroplane wings, according to Michael and Frances.

Foodplants: The nymphs begin to feed quite well on Bramble and can usually be raised easily on this. However, adults - and so probably nymphs ­ will feed on a variety of plants including both wild and cultivated Rose, Hawthorn, Rowan, Cherry, Pear, Apple, Beech, , Loquat and Japanes Knotweed. Evergreen plants which have been useful during the last winter are Rhododendron, Evergreen Oak, Cotoneaster and Cherry Laurel.

Comments: An exciting species which is now in fairly good culture within the Group. Many losses of both eggs and other stages are due to temperatures being too high. In the Cameron Highlands typical 0F daytime temperatures are about 70 with a drop of several degrees during the night. There is a heavy collecting pressure on wild populations which will take its toll, even though the species is apparently common in certain spots. They are easily collected after the rains (in captivity the creatures become active when sprayed with water and drink from the leaf surfaces), and thousands of live specimens have been dispatched to Europe. There is also a substantial trade in dead specimens which has included at least three gynandromorphs (part male, part female) which have commanded high prices. Captive breeding is therefore very important for the long term future of the species in Malaysia.

NEXT SPECIES REPORT - Haaniella echinata. Please send all your information to Jonathan Cocking (No. 82) by 15th October.

NEXT NEWSLETTER - Please send all other contributions by 15th November to Michael and Frances at 9 Oaklands Court, Nicoll Road, London NW10 9AU.