ISSN 2372-2517 (Online), ISSN 2372-2479 (Print) METALEPTEAMETALEPTEA THE NEWSLETTER OF THE ORTHOPTERISTS’ SOCIETY TABLE OF CONTENTS President’s Message (Clicking on an article’s title will take you By DAVID HUNTER to the desired page) President [email protected] [1] PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE [2] SOCIETY NEWS ear Society members, ing Editor for the Journal of Orthop- [2] Tony Robillard: our new Managing Editor Like almost everyone, tera Research. Special thanks to our of JOR by D. HUNTER we have had to endure current Managing Editor Corey Ba- [2] The 2020 Theodore J. Cohn Research severe limits on activi- zelet, whose tireless efforts over the Grants Funded by M. LECOQ [3] Treasurer’s Report by P. MIHM ties because of the CO- past five years has led to increasing [3] A call for DNA-grade specimens to recon- VID-19 coronavirus. accessibility of our journal being open sruct a comprehensive phylogeny of Ensifera D by H. SONG ManyD of you have had to work from access as part of Pensoft. Meet Tony [4] “Jago’s Grasshoppers of East and North home, which works for some, but not on page 2! East Africa” volume 4 now available! for others and many have not been As you can see from our Treasurer’s [5] REGIONAL REPORTS able to work at all. Let’s hope things Report, the economic uncertainties [5] North America by K. KING start to return to “normal,” so we can have led to a decline in our invest- [6] Latin America by M.E. POCCO get on with what we really enjoy do- ments, but we have had substantial [8] Japan by H. TATSUTA [8] North, Sahelian & West Africa by ing, though what the “new normal” gains during the past 4 years, so we A. IDRISSI will be like is far from certain. This still have more than we had at the [9] Central & Southern Africa by issue of Metaleptea has examples of end of 2014, the year of the late Ted V. COULDRIDGE what we have all had to do during the Cohn’s generous gifts to our society. [9] East Europe - North and Central Asia by M.G. SERGEEV limitations and lockdowns of various Over the past few years, we have been [10] Australia, New Zealand & Pacific kinds. In my case, I Islands by M. KEARNEY have found time to [12] China by L. ZHANG catch up on the list [13] T.J. COHN GRANT REPORTS [13] Ecological and evolutionary diversifica- of jobs around the tion in Scotussae genus group (Melanopli- house and yard that nae: Dichroplini) by M.C. SCATTOLINI Denise generously [15] OSF GRANT REPORTS updates for me at [15] From lowland sands and steppes to alpine grasslands - Taxonomy, bioacoustics regular intervals— and distribution of Orthoptera in Serbia and including washing Montenegro by S. IVKOVIĆ the windows of all [17] Illustrating Neotropical Acridoidea spe- the dust and smoke cies with emphasis on Romaleinae in OSF by M.E. POCCO left from the fires [19] CONTRIBUTED ARTICLES here in Australia ear- [19] Orthoptera Conservation in the Middle lier this year—under East: Is Psorodonotus eberni priceless or close supervision worthless? by B. ÇIPLAK, Ö. YAHYAOĞLU & O. ULUAR of our miniature [21] How do locusts and grasshoppers con- Schnauzer, Ruby, of trol hatching time? by S. TANAKA course! [25] Some considerations on the current It is with great Desert Locust situation in East Africa by M. LECOQ pleasure that I an- [26] Leaky lockdown and fieldwork in Uru- nounce that Tony guay by K. RIEDE Robillard from the [28] My short-lived sabbatical in Australia National Museum of by H. SONG Natural History in [32] EDITORIAL Paris has agreed to be our new Manag- Volume 40 (2) / May 2020 1 METALEPTEA setting aside some of the gains into a report by Roger Farrow on the effects The many reports in the current is- reserve bond fund that has retained its of Australia’s devastating summer sue of Metaleptea demonstrate the value, so that we now have $75,000 in (December-February) fires on some of continuing success of work on Or- bond and cash reserves that can cover our less common grasshoppers. And thoptera and related insects: it is with expenses. there is the continuing threat of desert great pleasure that I present another In addition to reports on what we locust bands and swarms from India/ excellent Metaleptea, thanks once have been doing in the face of COV- Pakistan to Africa at the same time as again to the tireless efforts of Hojun ID-19, I bring to your attention a short COVID-19 is spreading. Song and Derek Woller! Tony Robillard: our new Managing Editor of the Journal of Orthoptera Research By DAVID HUNTER President [email protected] ony Robillard, from the of transition. The plan is for Corey National Museum of to be largely responsible for the June Natural History (MNHM, issue of JOR as that is well underway Paris), has agreed to be and Corey has suggested that she and our new Managing Editor Tony work together on the December T of Journal of Orthoptera issue to allow Tony to learn in more ResearchT. Tony works on the evo- detail the processes involved. We lutionary biology and taxonomy of sincerely thank Corey for her tireless crickets, particularly investigating the efforts in moving JOR to the open evolution of acoustic communication access Pensoft platform that has led using orthoptera as a study system. to an increase in citations of JOR ar- His plenary presentation at our Con- ticles. Many thanks both to Corey and gress in Agadir last year outlined to Tony as they work together during some of his interesting work: “Evolu- this editorial transition period for the tion of systems of communication in Journal of Orthoptera Research. Crickets: a multidisciplinary explora- tion in space and time.” Tony brings a wide range of exper- tise to the editorship of JOR and our current Managing Editor (Corey Ba- zelet) and Tony will work together for the remainder of the year as a period The 2020 Theodore J. Cohn Research Grants Funded By MICHEL LECOQ Chair, Theodore J. Cohn Research Fund Committee [email protected] Dear fellow Orthopter- USA. As usual, many well written • Jessica Briggs (USA) - The neurologi- ists, projects, concerning all groups of Or- cal response of Australian black field thoptera, and many interesting ideas. crickets under variable acoustic envi- Despite the global As usual, the task of the Committee ronments. health crisis caused by was not easy. We finally selected – ac- • Amy Byerly (USA) - Spatial and tem- Covid-19 which has cording to their merit… and to our poral patterns of gene flow in a field DD disrupted everyone’s financial possibilities – 10 research cricket hybrid zone. working conditions, we received this projects for a total of $14,879. Below • James Gallagher (USA) - Linking song year 24 research proposals from Cam- is the list of the successful candidates characteristics to wing morphology eroon, France, Greece, India, Israel, (by alphabetical order of surname) in a newly discovered cricket morph. Japan, Kenya, Mexico, New Zealand, and the title of their research project: • Tan Ming Kai (Singapore) - Are some individuals more flamboyant than Poland, Singapore, Slovakia, and Volume 40 (2) / May 2020 2 METALEPTEA others? Personality in Eneopterinae atophanes barretoi) results obtained. They are a real asset crickets. • Apostolos Stefanidis (Greece) - for our society. • Tatsuru Kuga (Japan) - Effect of the CODE- Conservation of Orthoptera On behalf of the committee, I would conspicuous sound produced during Diversity in central Epirus, Greece like to thank all of our candidates for flight for escaping on the survival • Raunak Sen (India) - Sexual isolation their participation. Congratulations rate in Acrida cinerea (Orthoptera: and speciation in crickets to those who have been selected and Acrididae). good luck to all for continuing their • Keren Levy (Israel) - The use of crick- I would like to emphasize that, if the work. ets as a bioindicator for artificial light aim of these grants is to help students The next call will be in early 2021 at night and young researchers, these contribu- and we strongly invite MSc/PhD • Sona Nuhlickova (Slovakia) - Delinea- tions are also a chance for our society. students, and post-docs from around tion of notoriously difficult species They allow us to observe the vitality the world to submit their research complexes: testing of novel genetic of research on Orthoptera, the diver- proposals. I remind all that the only approaches on the example of two sity of ideas and proposals, the enthu- sibling species in the Central Europe requirement is that the applicant be a siasm of our young students. These member of the Orthopterists’ Society • Howon Rhee (New Zealand) - The grants also contribute to enriching our effects of wildfires on population in good standing. Metaleptea newsletter with more and trends and genetic diversity of the Madeiran Green BushCricket (Psalm- more excellent articles presenting the Treasurer’s Report By PAMELA MIHM Treasurer [email protected] hope this finds all of you Society received as a bequest from funds and the $60,000 transferred is healthy. The COVID-19 Theodore Cohn. The Society’s funds now worth nearly $65,000. While pandemic has affected are invested in a variety of types of we still do not know the complete everyone throughout the entire investments including stock funds and economic fallout from the pandemic, I world and the Orthopterists’ bond funds. Traditionally, the bond am pleased to report that, overall, the I Society is no exception. The funds are less risky, and this proved investments have increased in value valueI of the Society’s investments true during this time; the value of the since we received the March 31, 2020 as of March 31, 2020 ($1,361,374) bond funds have actually increased.