President's Message

METALEPTEAMETALEPTEA THE NEWSLETTER OF THE ORTHOPTERISTS’ SOCIETY President’s Message [1] PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE [2] NEWS or those in the Northern [2] OS New Website by Piotr Naskrecki Hemisphere, I hope you the main [2] Orthopteroid Collection Database at enjoyed your summer- featuresDetails on of NHM by George Beccaloni [4] REGIONAL REPORTS [4] Japan by Seiji Tanaka for those in the South- [5] Southern and Eastern Africa by F time and field work, the website Corinna Bazelet F are given [6] Western and Northern Africa by report ern Hemisphere who in Piotr´s Mohamed Abdallahi OULD Babah are still struggling with the end of - this issue of [7] OS GRANT REPORTS wintertime, we have our hopes that elsewhere in [7] Been there, done that: Investigating cuticular hydrocarbons as proximate spring has almost arrived and flow cues for facilitating chemosensory ers will soon blossom and the trees Metaleptea. self-referencing in decorated crickets will be covered with green leaves- Some coordination between Piotr,- (Gryllodes sigillatus) by Carie B. once again. Charles Bomar and Ted Cohn is still Weddle [9] Association Costs in the Female Following, are some news con needed regarding the member’s da Variable Field Cricket (Gryllus cerning the life of our Society that I tabase to make the website public. lineaticeps) by Cassandra M. Martin NEWwanted OS to WEBSITE share with you. Nevertheless, the plan is to launch it [12] IN MEMORIAM JOURNALafter September OF ORTHOPTERA 15th. [12] Christiane Amédégnato-Loisele RESEARCH (1945 - 2010) by Maria Marta Thanks to the efforts and hard Cigliano & Carlos S. Carbonell - [15] Miguel Antonio Ríos Guevara work of Piotr Naskrecki the OS (1990–2010) by Sam Heads Website has been entirely re JOR 19(1), 2010, is out (both [16] CONTRIBUTED ARTICLES designed. The entire website is online and print versions). It was [16] Franz Gustav Straube (1802-1853) database-driven, which means available in its online version - and His Contributions for Entomology that people other than the website through BioOne from the last week by Fernando Costa Straube [20] A long term study to disentangle manager will be able to add content of July. This issue includes some pa cricket behaviour in the wild to it. pers arising from the ICO Symposia (Orthoptera: Gryllidae) by Rolando Also, the PayPal payment system JORof 2009 Website-Subscription in Antalya, Turkey. Rodríguez-Muñoz has been implemented, so members [21] On the genera Caribacris Rehn and will be able to pay their dues online Hebard, 1938 and Leurohippus Uvarov, 1940 (Orthoptera: Acrididae: (using their PayPal account, or a - JOR will be available online to Gomphocerinae: Amblytropidiini) by credit card). For those who prefer members of the society via BioOne Carlos S. Carbonell not to use the online payment sys who pay for the subscription of JOR [22] BOOK REVIEW tem a PDF form is provided. Also, (U$ 30: print and online version); [22] David Rentz’s “A Guide to the new members will be able to fill in or either chose to pay only for the Katydids of Australia” by Karim Vahed a membership application and pay JOR´sonline visibility version andof JOR International (U$ 15). [23] OS FINANCIAL REPORT [25] EDITORIAL their fees online. Publisher Besides, the BioOne online access- to JOR is working, and has been set - up so that those members who sub According to what was decided - scribe to JOR (print and/or online during the Board meeting in Anta versions) will be able to use it. lya, with the help of Michael Sam Volume 30 (3) / September 2010 ways and Glenn Morris we have 1 METALEPTEA explored different possibilities and that Doug Whitman, who acted as with next year´s first issue, JOR 20 costs of an International Publisher. an Associate Editor of the Special (1), 2011. However, after several inquiries and Issue on Body Size in Orthoptera: María Marta Cigliano contacts with some Publishers (i.e. JOR 2008-17(2), and presently our With bestPresident wishes, Springer) we decided that it would Associate Treasurer, has accepted Co-Editorbe better forfor JOR to stay as it is. to serve as Co-Editor of JOR. He will help Glenn Morris with the editorial work. He will start with this new OS I am extremelyNew glad Website to announce “challenge” (using his own words) - he main new features of would like to post images of vari tem a PDF form is provided. the website are: ous insects to be identified by the 7. New members can now fill in a Society’s members). - membership application and pay T 1. The entire website is 4. The “Just Published” list is also their fees online. T database-driven, which dynamic, and members can them means that people selves add their papers to it. Papers Things that I want to implement other than myself will be able to can now be sorted by topic (e.g., in near future: - add content to it. It also means that taxonomy, genetics etc.), but I will updating the content of the site will also add the ability to narrow the 1. The ability to purchase the Soci be much easier and faster. display to only certain taxa. ety’s books and other publications 2. The members database is now 5. The BioOne online access is live online. secure, which means that members and working and I set it up so that 2. The ability to pay JOR page can update their (and only their- those members who subscribe to charges online . own) profiles. JOR (print and/or online version) 3. The ability for members to post 3. The Bulletin Board is now dy- will be able to use it. interesting links to our Links page. namic, and all members of the 6. The PayPal payment system for 4. The ability to upload photos to society will be able to post an existing members is working, and- the Bulletin Board and individual nouncements and requests there. members can pay their dues or member profiles. Piotr Naskrecki I am working now on allowing make donations to the Society on OS Website Manager guest access, and the ability to add line using their PayPal account, or- comments and upload images to it a credit card. For those who prefer The(I can imagine Natural that a lot of people History not to use Museum, the online payment sysLondon’s Orthopteroid Collection Database is now Online - - housedhe collection at The of Natu Orthop- I say below about the teroidea (Polyneoptera) ‘orthopteroid’ collec tion does not include- T ral History Museum, these orders. T London, UK is one of The NHM’s orthop the largest and most teroid collection type-rich collections of its kind in contains an estimated the world. This collection is curated- 785,824 specimens by one full-time curator, assisted by- belonging to 13,313- volunteers, and for historical rea - valid species (34.1% sons it excludes the three small or of all described spe thopteroid orders Plecoptera, Embi- cies), including 5567 optera (Embiidina) and Zoraptera, primary and 15,051 the collections of which are man secondary type Volumeaged by other 30 (3) curatorial / September staff. What2010 specimens (Tables 1 3 METALEPTEA curator) transferred this database into an MS Access database of his own design and he and Judith spent much time correcting the data and updating the taxonomy and higher- classification of the taxa using the- Species File databases for Blatto dea (Blattaria), Phasmida (Phas matodea) and Orthoptera (http:// - software.speciesfile.org/Files/Files. aspx), plus Steinmann’s world cata logue of Dermaptera (Steinmann, 1989). In 2009 George oversaw- the migration of these data into the NHM’s new collections manage Figure 1. View of the Darwin Centre 2 Cocoon ment system, KE EMu. Recently an which contains the store rooms which house the online interface to these data was- Figure 2. The 7th floor store room in Darwin Centre 2 entomological and botanical collections. Copyright made available at http://www.nhm. in which the orthopteroid collection is now housed. the Natural History Museum, London. Copyright the Natural History Museum, London. ac.uk/research-curation/collec tions/departmental-collections/ entomology-collections/search/ & 2). The majority of the collection - visitors/index.html and Fig. 1). The index.php?action=indexLot . This consists of dry pinned specimens, orthopteroid drawers were moved is notable, since for the first time re but most of the termites and a small - into this new building in November searchers outside the Museum can proportion of the other groups are 2009 and they are now housed in find out for themselves what spe stored in alcohol (70% industrial - compactorised metal cabinets in a cies and types the NHM’s collection methylated spirit). The pinned - climatically controlled store room actually contains. The termite col specimens are housed in 4,639 - (Fig. 2). During the move we took lections index is still to be correct drawers, of which 3,940 hold the the opportunity to rearrange the ed, updated and migrated to EMu as main identified series and 699 con collection into a more logical order we have been waiting for Krishna, tain unidentified or partly identified and we have ensured that space has Engel & Grimaldi’s world catalogue specimens. been left in appropriate places in of termites to be published. In 1996 a computerised catalogue the collection to allow for the future It is also worth noting that the of the species and type specimens - expansion. We have been preparing NHM’s orthopteroid collection, plus - in the orthopteroid collection - for this move since about 2003 and most of the NHM’s other pinned in (except for the termites) was begun between then and 2009 we trans sect collections and many of its bo by Judith Marshall (the Curator - ferred pinned specimens housed in tanical specimens, are now housed of Orthopteroidea at that time) in 312 wooden store boxes into unit in a state-of-the-art building called Paradox for DOS and this was com trays and drawers, and moved the Darwin Centre 2 (see http://www.

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