ISSN 2372-2517 (Online), ISSN 2372-2479 (Print) METALEPTEAMETALEPTEA THE NEWSLETTER OF THE ORTHOPTERISTS’ SOCIETY

* Table of Contents is now clickable, which will President’s Message take you to a desired page. By MICHAEL SAMWAYS President [1] PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE [email protected] [2] SOCIETY NEWS he sensu [2] 2015 Orthoptera File lato is one of the most Grant Funded prominent of all the terrestrial invertebrate [3] MEETING REPORTS groups. Above all, [3] Orthopteroid Symposium TT the many species are Recap from ESA, 2014 by DEREK A. important functionally in interaction WOLLER networks in many terrestrial ecosys- [14] Report on “CURSO-TALLER DE MANEJO DE LANGOSTA Y tems, from tropical rain forest to tem- CHAPULÍN” by HOJUN SONG perate grasslands, and even in caves. dynamic planet, of a vitality, honed [15] Report from the Annual Meet- Their diversity of life styles is really by evolution. This makes the Orthop- ing of the National Grasshopper amazing, with different species be- tera one of the most exciting Management Board by ALEX V. ing variously carnivores, omnivores, LATCHININSKY groups to research. Yet there are still herbivores, and saprovores. They can many questions surrounding their be cryptic, whether green in the trees [16] OS GRANT REPORTS biology that are poorly-explored. In or brown in the litter layer, and some [16] To be “Pavarotti” in a crowded the case of some of the katydids, for are even aposematic, containing toxic concert hall? Song competition be- example, they are amazingly efficient or distasteful compounds that deter tween bushcricket males in natural singers and listeners, having wings potential predators. Indeed, they also choruses: first field season and that have been shaped by natural laboratory recordings by play an important role as food for selection to produce remarkably com- MARIANNA ANICHINI many vertebrate predators. Still oth- plex songs that have an astonishing ers are tunnellers, not only for their amplitude of 110 db at source. Then [17] CONTRIBUTED ARTICLE protection, but as in the case of mole they hear using a funnel-like ear. Not [17] Rare Color Form of Atlanticus crickets, also for more efficient sound only this, but they can also be good Katydid Observed by WIL projection through a horn-shaped HERSHBERGER fliers. This is a remarkable trade-off tunnel. Inevitably, this means that [18] How a non-sound-producing between having wings that are both the orthopteran form has been sculp- grasshopper can inspire a musical good for singing and for flying. In the tured over many millennia to give the piece by RICARDO MARIÑO-PÉREZ case of mole crickets, not only can morphological exuberance that we see some sing and fly well, but they also today across the world. [20] TREASURER’S REPORT do so apparently un-encumbered by Of course, one other feature that their large spade-like feet used for makes orthopteran species so interest- [21] EDITORIAL digging their tunnel! ing is that many are also singers. This The Orthopterists’ Society (OS) is means that not only is the physical devoted to this faunistic exuberance landscape graced by their presence, and enables all enthusiasts and scien- but so is the soundscape. The myriad tists from around the world to share of songs, many of which have compo- thoughts and ideas on this remarkable nents that are well above our hear- group. There is a meeting of minds ing range, give a sense of a living, Volume 35 (1) / January 2015 1 METALEPTEA to explore further the variety of life require conservation action. This has the OS: the Orthoptera Species File forms, behaviours, physiologies, and led to a strong link between the OS (OSF). The OSF is a global catalogue biochemistries. Yet some species and the World Conservation Union of all known Orthoptera species, have major pest status and have had, (IUCN)/Species Survival Commis- which continually grows through and continue to so, an influence on sion’s Grasshopper Specialist Group, input of many OS members. This human culture and survival. The OS a global network devoted to assessing database is a hallmark facility of the welcomes those researchers and prac- threat status of species and develop- OS, and open to all members. titioners who aim to understand and ing conservation strategies in the face Wishing all Orthopterists around control these pestiferous species. of global change. In turn, the informa- the world a peaceful and prosperous At the other end of the spectrum tion gathered by this group, as well 2015, and many exciting discoveries are those species which are under as by many other devoted orthopter- of the orthopteran world! threat from human disturbance and ists, feeds into an amazing facility of

2015 Orthoptera Species File Grant

Funded By MARIA MARTA CIGLIANO Orthoptera Species File Officer [email protected]

he OSF grants commit- • Martin Husemann (Martin-Luther distributional and taxonomical data of tee received fourteen University, Halle-Wittenberg, Institute Balkan Orthoptera species” (photos of grants applications from of Biology/Zoology, Germany) will types and live , recordings and eleven countries (Alge- contribute photos and distribution distribution records). ria, Argentina, Brazil, records of Oedipodini from Europe, • Pedro Guilherme Souza-Dias TT Colombia, China, Africa, Asia and North America. (University of São Paulo, Zoology France, Germany, Hungary, Mozam- • Piotr Naskrecki & Ricardo Guta Department, Brazil) will contribute bique, Spain, and the U.S.A.) and (E.O. Wilson Biodiversity Laboratory, photos of types of Phalangopsinae de- the following seven proposals were Museum of Comparative Zoology, posited in Brazilian Museums, photos funded. These proposals were primar- Harvard University, USA; Gorongosa of live individuals and distribution ily selected based on the relation to National Park, Mozambique) will records of Brazilian Phalangopsinae the amount of data expected to be contribute on “Acoustic and photo- related to the research project on added into the Orthoptera Species graphic documentation of the Orthop- “The Brazilian fauna of phalangopsid File or to a Species File for another tera of Central Mozambique” (from crickets (, Phalangopsidae): group within . They Gorongosa National Park). distribution, diversity and aspects of were also considered if the proposal • Martina Pocco (División En- natural history.” was related somehow to a taxonomic tomología, Museo de La Plata & research project and/or the candidate CEPAVE, Argentina) will contribute demonstrated knowledge of the taxa photos of Neotropical grasshop- involved. per types and other specimens in the Academy of Natural Sciences • Juliana Chamorro & Rodrigo of Drexel University, Philadelphia, Romero (Universidade Federal de USA, in particular , along Viçosa, Brazil, Universidad de Cal- with distribution records, as well as das, Colombia) will contribute photos photos of live specimens of Argentine and distribution records of Brazil- grasshopper species on “Illustrating ian katydids related to the research Neotropical species with project on “The wings and phallus of emphasis on Romaleinae in OSF”. Neotropical katydids (Orthoptera: Tet- • Gellért Puskás (Hungarian Natu- tigonioidea)” ral History Museum, Hungary) will • Klaus-Gerhard Heller (Germany) contribute on “Photo documentation will contribute sound recordings on of types in the Hungarian Natural Procolpia inclarata (Walker, 1870) (Romalei- dae), December 11th, 2013 “Calling songs of West Palearctic Tet- History Museum as well as the Otto Near Pluma Hidalgo, Oaxaca, Mexico. (Photo tigonioidea” . Herman collection and collecting Credit: Ricardo Mariño-Pérez)

Volume 35 (1) / January 2015 2 METALEPTEA Orthopteroid Symposium Recap from ESA, 2014 By DEREK A. WOLLER Texas A&M University College Station, TX, USA [email protected] uring the annual Ento- any given moment, a good crowd for , Dermaptera, Phasmida, mological Society of such a large meeting during which , Mantodea, Steno- America (ESA) confer- there are probably, at minimum, 20 pelmatidae, and Embioptera. Equally ence in Portland, Or- other talks/symposia running simulta- impressive were the myriad of topics egon, USA on November neously. being studied (in approximate presen- DD 18th, 2014, a 4-hour Naturally, the speakers deserve most tation order): acoustics, divergence symposium (“Utilizing orthopteroid of the credit for drawing in the crowd time estimates, speciation, phylo- insects to overcome grand challenges since they did the majority of the geography, phylogenetics, thermal in an ever-evolving world.”) occurred work in that respect. Tyler kicked off tolerance, entomophagy, nutrition, that was focused solely on orthop- the event with an excellent overview vibrational communication, DNA bar- teroids, organized by myself and my of orthopteropids followed by our 11 coding, and cryptic diversity. If you’d collaborators: Tyler Raszick (Dept. invited speakers and Ricardo. We had like to learn more about these subjects of Entomology/Sword Lab, Texas a good mix of students, post-docs, and and topics, please refer below to the A&M University, tjraszick@gmail. seasoned researchers (Fig. 1), includ- brief abstract and figure provided by com), Ricardo Mariño-Pérez (Dept. of ing two who came from outside the each speaker (organized in order of Biology/Song Lab, UCF, pselliopus@ U.S. (Mexico and Australia): Katy presentation). yahoo.com.mx), and JoVonn Hill Frederick-Hudson, Oscar Salomon Our primary goal was to bring (Mississippi Entomological Museum, Sanabria-Urban, Dominic Evange- orthopteroids, particularly Orthoptera, Mississippi State University, jgh4@ lista, Rachel Slatyer, Paul Lenhart, back into the spotlight at ESA, the last entomology.msstate.edu). Overall, I Daniel R. Howard, Gavin J. Svenson, time being 2004 when Hojun Song think the symposium was a rousing John Barone, Amy Vandergast, Janice organized an Orthoptera symposium. success because it went off without a S. Edgerly, and our keynote speaker, I think we successfully met that goal, hitch, it was entertaining and informa- Johannes Schul. Orthopteroid groups so, following the close of the sympo- tive (according to us and audience were also diverse and included (in sium, the conquering heroes headed members who told me so), and there approximate presentation order): Tet- to The Green Dragon Bistro and Pub, were at least 50 people watching at tigoniidae, , Blattaria, one of Portland’s premiere craft beer establishments. Naturally, a good time was had by all (Fig. 2)! We sincerely hope that someone else in the Soci- ety will be inspired by our venture to organize one of their own at ESA or elsewhere now that orthopteroids have gained some momentum once more. Please feel free to contact me or one of the other organizers if you have questions or would like advice. I’d also like to thank a number of people who contributed significantly to our symposium success: Hojun Song for his support and mental rolo- dex, Michael S. Engel for suggest- Figure 1. Symposium speakers and organizers (from left to right and top to bottom): ing and encouraging the assembly of Dominic Evangelista, Oscar Salomon Sanabria-Urban, Amy Vandergast, Johannes these abstracts, and, of course, those Schul, Paul Lenhart, Gavin J. Svenson, Ricardo Mariño-Pérez, Tyler Raszick, Janice S. Edgerly, Derek A. Woller, Katy Frederick-Hudson, Daniel R. Howard, Rachel Slatyer, and members of the Orthopterists’ Society John Barone. Not pictured: JoVonn Hill (sadly for us, he was busy successfully defend- who graciously gave us the necessary ing his dissertation). funding to thoroughly enjoy the after- Volume 35 (1) / January 2015 3 METALEPTEA Figure 2. The af- oid orders within the remainder of the ter-symposium Polyneoptera (Zoraptera, Plecoptera, celebration in Embioptera), and have also placed full swing. Isoptera within the Blattodea. Despite the large number of orders considered to be orthopteroid, either classically or as the Polyneoptera, orthopteroid insects have been greatly underrepresented at the annual meet- ings of the Entomological Society of America for a number of years (Fig. 3). Furthermore, a disturbing symposium celebration: David Eades, diverse and speciose group of arthro- trend is revealed when comparing the Michael Samways, Pamm Mihm, and pods that showcase a variety of in- representation of orthopteroid insects David Hunter. teresting evolutionary and ecological to other orders of insects; although traits. Modern orders that have been the number of talks has increased by classically considered as orthopteroid roughly 200 over the past 4 years, the Know your orthopteroids: An include: Blattodea (), number of talks discussing orthopter- introduction to the subjects of this Dermaptera (earwigs), Grylloblatto- oid insects has remained stagnant. To symposium dea (ice crawlers), Mantodea (praying bring attention to this issue, the stun- ), (stick in- ning diversity, and research possibili- Tyler Raszick, Texas A&M Univer- sects), and, of course, the Orthoptera ties provided by the orthopteroids, we sity, College Station, TX (crickets, grasshoppers, and katydids). organized a symposium at the 2014 Additionally, the newly discovered or- annual meeting of the ESA, and at- Orthopteroid orders, those der Mantophasmatodea (heel-walkers) tempted to both sound a call-to-arms that would have historically been in- is also considered to be orthopteroid, for orthopteroid insect researchers to cluded in the order Orthoptera by Carl and recent phylogenies have illus- present their research, as well as high- Linnaeus in Systema Naturae, are a trated the paraphyly of the orthopter- light these magnificent insects.

Faster than cichlids? Rapid diversi- fication in Neoconocephalus

Katy Frederick-Hudson, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA.

Evolution of communication sys- tems is inherently complex, requir- ing coevolution between sender and receiver mechanisms. Males of the katydid Neoconocephalus have four common signal phenotypes. This study used comparative methods to investigate the relationship of signal diversity and biogeography and ap- plied an Orthopteran mutation rate to determine clade age and better explain Neoconocephalus evolution- ary history. Ancestral state reconstructions Figure 3. Underrepresentation of orthopteroid orders at ESA annual meetings: y-axis revealed three derived call traits with represents the number of times that groups of orders of insects appear in the program during the past 4 meetings (x-axis). (CO = classical orthopteroids, PN = Polyneoptera, independent evolutionary histories. & OI = other insect orders) These call traits each have multiple independent origins and subsequent Volume 35 (1) / January 2015 4 METALEPTEA tions within lakes of the African Rift Valley, due to temperature fluctua- tions and glacial cycles. These rapid diversifications are similar in both the amount of phenotypic diversity and the timescale of thousands of years. Finally, our results highlight how rap- idly acoustic communication systems can diversify and has important impli- cations for our understanding of the underlying evolutionary mechanisms.

Systematics of Sphenariina (Or- thoptera; Pyrgomorphidae)

Oscar Salomon Sanabria-Urban1, Figure 4. Phylogenetic reconstruction of Neoconocephalus. Colored boxes = estimates Hojun Song2, Ken Oyama3, Anto- of speciation events for corresponding tree regions. nio González-Rodríguez3, and Raúl 1 1 losses, indicating plasticity of signal 14 fossil calibrations, we calculated a Cueva del Castillo Mendoza . Facul- evolution in this system. mutation rate specific to Orthopterans tad de Estudios Superiores Iztacala, Neoconocephalus occur ancestrally across the phylogeny, as well as a Universidad Nacional Autónoma de in tropical grasslands. Most temper- mutation rate specific to the Copiph- México, Tlalnepantla, 54090 México, 2 ate species are found in a single orini tribe (cone-headed katydids). México; University of Central 3 monophyletic clade with few addi- Calibrating a molecular clock using Florida, Orlando, FL, USA; Centro tional migrations (Fig. 4). This clade mutation rates specific to the ingroup de Investigaciones en Ecosistemas, recapitulates the total signal diversity of interest is preferable to using rates UNAM, Morelia, 58190 Michoacán, of the genus. The temperate clade borrowed from other taxonomic México. contains at least one species with each groups. However, these mutations derived call trait, as well as species rates largely supported rates from the Multiple studies on vertebrate and with entirely ancestral call characters. literature. plant taxa propose that the formation Conversely, the sister clade to this Temperate Neoconocephalus diver- of the Mexican Volcanic Belt, the temperate clade contains one species sification is young; even by conserva- inundation of the Isthmus of Tehu- (N. triops), which phylogenetic analy- tive estimates it occurred during the antepec, and the Quaternary climatic sis has shown to have greater genetic last glacial cycle and likely in the fluctuations (QCF) are primarily diversity with less signal variation last 12,000 years, coinciding with drivers of biotic diversification in than among all species in the temper- the end of the Last Glacial Maxima Central and Southern Mexico. The ate clade. Additionally, mitochondrial (LGM) and subsequent fluctuations spatial and temporal occurrence of ultrametric (relative-time) analysis in temperature for thousands of years. these three events suggests a model indicates that the N. triops clade, like Instead of species diversifying in of diversification for Neotropical all tropical clades, is older than its refugia between glaciations, Neocono- biotas in Mexico, in which phyloge- sister temperate clade. cephalus species simply moved North netic relationships and interspecific We conducted molecular clock with the receding glaciers traveling divergence among taxa might reflect analysis, calibrating the ultrametric out of South and Central America. As the occurrence of past geologic and time tree with several mutation rates the species migrated North there was climatic events. found in invertebrate and orthopteran a period of rapid signal diversification Comparatively, the knowledge literature. These mutation rates all due to drift along the migration front about patterns of diversification of dated the speciation within the tem- resulting in reproductive isolation. Neotropical insects is sparse. How- perate clade to less than 50,000 years Neoconocephalus expansion occurred ever, the grasshoppers in the genus ago (Fig. 4- Green box). much faster than it did in other well- (Fig. 5) represent a good To accurately date the age of the known island radiations (i.e. Hawai- system to further explore the effects temperate clade we built an Orthopera ian Laupala crickets), which radiated of patterns of geologic and climatic phylogeny from mitochondrial DNA over millions of years. Our findings events on the diversification of animal (mitogenomes and COI genes). Using are consistent with Cichlid radia- species, given the biology, ecology, Volume 35 (1) / January 2015 5 METALEPTEA

What we could learn from a phy- Some like it hot, some like it cold: logeny of Blaberoidea Thermal tolerance in Australian alpine grasshoppers Dominic Evangelista and Jessica L. Ware, Rutgers, The State University Rachel Sla