Phasmid Species Cultured / Attempted', a Title Which Stayed Until 1984, When It Became "The Species List'

The Phasmid Study Group

DECEMBER 2004 NEWSLETTER No 100 ISSN 0268-3806

Soecial Edition to celebrate the 100th Edition of the PSG

Picture by Mike Strick

December 2004 Newsletter 700.1 Website: www.stickinsect.org.uk December 2004 Newsletter "700.2 Website: www.stickinsect.org.uk Welcome to the December PSG Newsletter. ISSUE 100!!! And on behalf of the PSG Committee, I wish all readers a very M&xrxry CZtri.s tm.a.s , and a Hajpjpy Ne~w Year.

NEWSLETTER No 100. I am really proud for the privilege of editing the 100th edition of the PSG Newsletter. We have tried to make it a little more special than usual; I hope the membership enjoy this very unique read. When people ask me what my hobbies are, and I say I currently edit '/// a Newsletter on stick insects, I often get doubts that the subject is either interesting or exhaustive. Well now, 100 editions of the Newsletter should surely prove our point. Incidentally, all 100 editions of the PSG Newsletter are available to members, obviously for a small fee - so see page 27 for details. Also, to continue receiving the PSG Newsletters, do not forget to renew your membership - renewal form is on page 33 of this Newsletter.

NEWSLETTER No 1. As part of celebrating Issue No 100 of the PSG Newsletter, I have included at the back, for your nostalgic perusal, a copy of the very first PSG .*«*rSC*ir~vT»' Newsletter - PSG Newsletter No 1, 1980. Special thanks to Tony James for permission 5 - B^j-iKSMHHS; to do so. (Apologies for its quality - it is a copy, of a copy, of a...).

25th ANNIVERSARY OF THE PSG. The January PSG AGM & Winter Meeting on Saturday, 22nd January,

2005, marks an amazing 25th Anniversary of the PSG. Again, efforts have been made to make this meeting a bit special. If you can attend only one PSG AGM & Winter Meeting in % Happy your lifetime - this is the one to go for. And I cannot make it! I have a really pressing alternative engagement; it has its compensations but I am really devastated to be missing Twenty-Fifth this particular meeting. Please don't make the same mistake! Be there, and enjoy. [And Anniversary please send me photos and reports on it for the March PSG Newsletter.] The agenda for the meeting appears on page 31 of this Newsletter.

Special Thanks. May I take this opportunity to thank all the contributors, to all the past Newsletters in general, and to this special edition of the Newsletter in particular. Without you, there would be no Newsletter.

Very special thanks to Mike Strick, for that astounding picture on the front cover of this issue. Also to Rev Joy, who assisted me in copy-typing some hand-written articles I'd received, thus saving me much time and grief. Merry Christmas to you both!

Finally, as many readers will know, I had an eye operation in October for a detached retina. I'm doing okay now, but many, many thanks to everyone who sent me their best wishes for a speedy recovery.

Regards to all IN/I IKE SMITH

IND

Page Content Page Content

2 The Colour Page 19 Our Stick/Leaf Insect Pets 3 Editorial 20 Colchester Zoo Invertebrate Show 4 Diapherodes gigantea Cultures 21 The Maintenance of Phasmid Cultures 4 Epidares nolimetangere Heart Attacks 22 Growing Eucalyptus Cultures From Seed 5 New Look PSG Website 25 A Short Trip to Europe 6 Puzzle Time 27 PSG Merchandise 7 Stick Talk 28 Wants & Exchanges 8 Stick Talk - How it All Began 28 Does Anyone Want GALS? 9 PSG Livestock & Picture Competition 29 Diary Dates 10 PSG Species List [History of] 30 AES Exhibition 2004 14 Editing the PSG Newsletter 31 PSG AGM Agenda 15 Origin Of Species List 32 PSG Committee 18 AESShow 33 PSG Membership Renewal Form 19 My Phasmid Hobby At Back - PSG Newsletter No 1. FREE COPY

December 2004 Newsletter 100.3 Website: www.stickinsect.org.uk Diapherodes gigantea by Alan Hendy

[Editor's Note: I much appreciate this article from Alan - particularly as in his excellent article on Eurycnema goliath in the September Newsletter I unfortunately spelt his name wrong, for which I make my apologies.]

When Diapherodes gigantea first came into PSG culture Ian Abercrombie as requested gave me some nymphs to rear. Unfortunately, over the months they all died I think due to me keeping them too dry, as I kept them with my E. goliath nymphs before reaching adulthood, except for one female which remained unmated throughout her stay with me. At the PSG meeting in July, I brought her up for someone to take her on if they had some males. As an adult she laid many eggs, and in early May they started hatching. Almost all of the nymphs have survived, and are now on their 3rd or 4th instar.

To start off I put the nymphs on a large Albizia shrub in the front garden, as it was warm and quite showery most of the time being summer! The nymphs have all turned out as females, as expected, as this culture is beyond a doubt parthenogenic. They accepted the Albizia as a food plant up to the first nymphs coming up to 3rd instar, when I then gathered them up over a few days, as they were hard to spot being almost the same colour as the food plant. They would hide underneath the leaves during the day and then feed at night when they could be seen on top as well as below the leaves, almost always returning to the same space under the leaf spine during the day. On overcast days some could be seen occasionally feeding and wandering over the leaves, instead of being static until dusk.

I had feared for a while that some had been taken by wasps, as the caterpillars on my climbing Tropeolum had been killed and physically carried off (an impressive sight), leaving the very small ones presumably till they grow to a more worthwhile size. I now have, at time of writing, 16 nymphs up to 4th instar feeding on Eucalyptus and Bay leaves, indoors in a humid environment. They prefer Eucalyptus above the Bay and Albizia if given a choice. This species for me personally has not been the easiest to keep, but is rewarding when I get it right, and the added bonus with it now being parthenogenic as well. Incidentally, regarding wasps, I have noticed that, when dragonflies are flying, wasps have been less numerous and sometimes totally absent, even when the temptation of food is available.

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Do Epi dares nolimetang&re (PSG99) Adults Have Heart Attacks? by Rachael Marriott PSG No 1992

I have noticed that PSG 99 adults just collapse to the floor of their tank, for no apparent reason, and become lifeless on the floor. When picked up they are still lifeless, like they are dead, because they do not move any of their legs or antenna.

I first noticed this when I was cleaning their tank out, and had put them back again. I had cleaned the tank using normal washing-up liquid. So I do not know why they went lifeless, but it might have been when as I used the washing up liquid in their tank - they must have breathed in the washing up liquid smell, which in turn knocked them out.

But how come the nymphs did not get knocked out by the washing-up liquid smell, as three of them live with the adults? The washing-up liquid I use to use in their tank was the normal green-looking liquid, which has a nutty fresh smell, and this did not previously affect the stick insects at all I have found. But going back to the stick insects when they have gone lifeless, they are like this for about 2-4 hours, and then they start to come round. I did take the adults away from the three nymphs, and put them in a separate tank to recover. And I did lose a couple of them, because they did not come round from it and were definitely dead. The other adult stick insects did come round from the lifeless state and were put back in the tank with the three nymphs again.

I have since had the stick insects twice become lifeless like this again, but this time not all at once. This time it was just a couple of them. I have had another stick insect fall off a leaf onto the floor on its back; this was a female and she too was lifeless. No movement, but she did come round from it like the others did; she is a bit paralysed in the front leg on her right side, though apart from that she is all right.

So if anyone can tell me if this has happened to your PSG 99 Epidares nolimetangere I would like to hear from you, as I do not know why they went like they did. It could be that they are really old and they had a stroke or heart attack which would knock a human out for however long, before they came round or in some cases didn't. Please help me with this if you can. E-mail me at [email protected] with your answers.

Thanks Rachael. You raise interesting questions on whether stick insects can have strokes or heart attacks, and if they should be cleaned out with soapy water. Please can members send answers for the next PSG Newsletter. (See also the Sticktalk #2, page 7, re Epidares nolimetangere playing dead). December 2004 Newsletter 100.4 Website: www.stickinsect.org.uk NEW LOOK PSG WEB SITE by Paul Taylor (PSG Website Master)

If you haven't checked out the PSG website lately, then you may be in for a surprise. The web site has been completely The Phasmid revamped with pop up pictures, a members-only site (password Study Group protected), a chat room for members only, and other improved features. Welcome to the official web site ol the Phasmid Study Group.

Articles on site can be downloaded as Mentbers page is for PSG members only. It is password protected, current members requiring a password should contact webmaster with their name and PSG number. The pdf files and will be changed more members pa ye currently has this years Newsiefters and aiso will soon have a chat page. often. A new gallery will (eventually) If you have an article you wish to put on the web, or any pictures of have more pictures of species available phasmids, then please contact webmaster. in culture, viewed as thumbnails on site, but can be expanded to see more detail. If you have any pictures for the gallery, then please send them to the webmaster. An up to date diary will be kept of events going on, complete with details of how to get to the event. Members will be able to access AGM and summer meeting information on the Do you have any spare livestock, tl so please contact our Livestock Co-Qrdinator with a list members only site, as well as other of what you have available. meetings that may be taking place that are restricted to members only.

There is an easier to use Forum, where members can ask questions and put on wants and exchanges. The members VISA I section is still being constructed, but AM EX currently has articles from this year's The PSG has won TheBueerfly Siso.com If you wish to provide some information, or would Ilka 3 link please contact ins w_ebj]naster. Newsletters, and a chat room. award for being a family friendly websiie. Members are asked to contact webmaster with any ideas to go on the Last updated on 8/11/04 site, we'd like to fill it up - but only with what you want. The members' section is password protected, with a new password published in each Newsletter every quarter. The password for the December Newsletter is: Username: PSGmembers, Password: mantid. You will need to type in the username and password as laid out (ie using upper and lowercase letters and, in this case, no gaps). To get into the chat room, you will initially need to register with your own username (or nickname) and password. Once you have initially registered you will only need to log in.

The web site is by no means finished, any ideas that members would like to see on the site, please contact Paul Taylor, ([email protected] If sending pictures of species, please do not send them by e- mail, please copy them onto a CD and post to: 24 Forge Road, Shustoke, Coleshill, Birmingham, B46 2AU. Also, remember you can now pay your subscription renewal on site! Many thanks to Sarah Houghton for this excellent Wordsearch - it should last all Christmas!

E F V P A E R E H T Y c S U P 0 L P A E G E D H A H T N A C A R Y P H c D S A U M U T A R A 1 T A M 0 S 0 T A T X E S R D c H S R G U B K c 1 T S R S E A D 1 Y E A Y M H E E A c A c 1 A A M N R S P c A L P A F F S P S F F U X S 1 0 0 1 Y N N Y E G U F E U R H S K A P D M H S L E 1 P R 1 S R S M L 1 D H 1 B S 0 T N 0 M L T 1 G c S D U U U V H B E Y R 1 E 1 A L U c A H A A S S R L E 1 R U P N c D G 1 S U S 1 L M F c R G A T R D H S 1 E 0 c K M H A 0 Y G L F A D D Y Y 0 E R A L A c A B R N S J A X G T S N G D c 0 S 1 B D L 0 N c H 0 D E S E V E R E T T 1 A S S S A G H E H 0 N G Y X C 0 S G R P T P U A E E 0 D A M c N E S R U B D 0 Y H s H S c c D c W 0 L 1 D E 0 P R J P L E E E C A D E H T R 0 W J M s U 1 B S U X U T H 1 Y S 1 H P S V G U c D A R U S T D E 1 R S B D 0 H U S D G 1 c R A 1 G A 0 R P 0 1 R c R 1 R C G E 1 G E M N C T D 0 H C S E X N N E X 1 L N T U B 0 D A 1 P A A S V N D A F G L 1 A L S L P R S A T S H L 1 1 T E G U c D E U G E M 0 0 c E M T o P 1 G 0 S S V B D 0 F G A S M A R A N S E N N R R Z X X M M 0 P L E A N Y T A U S R 0 1 S 1 X L E G S K F S P T X 1 C R E S M 1 1 z A F H A X K A V 0 H D N Y F S F B N 1 V D V B D c c Y G P A 1 A R 1 F B L B N X C V 1 1 M S H V A M L E U A A N T E N N A E T c E R E c 1 A A S E Z S M H E N V C S 1 c T H T S R c T D 1 X S B L C E Y G X N N A 0 E U 0 K A c 1 R X L V H T N M D S Y N D R M T L T 1 0 E E V 1 U 1 T B V T M 0 0 0 1 N 0 A T V Y S L 1 K S R L G A P T D P R A T G E 1 1 E B L E z A H J R H U E T R c T B N P M D A A E A E S G E D M N E E A 1 B E o A W Q N c U 1 E A Q F G D R P 1 1 X G s G W E R 1 H M N H S E M R Y S c c E 0 1 o F G J K D 1 A 1 R T Y 0 G A A U R N T D G K L M T 0 A L B 1 U N 1 N N L 0 E 0 F J T K A N B H H L 0 1 H N o R T D H R H L N M X C V X c E E R G A A A U E T P U A S 1 c A G E c N L 1 F E T H R R R D T A B D 0 M E N F E 0 L N D E P E 1 A 0 H M U T 0 N 0 S E M S L 0 A R S S N P P E A N 1 H T N A c Y R U E T A S S A 1 1 S E T A B S U N E X E N E M 1 H X E A T A T c E P X E N 1 A Y A G N U S

Phasmid Study Group Bacillus rossius Eurycanthinae Mesonotum Hazel Cage Lonchodes everetti Heteropteryx dilatata Insect Eye Oak Net Dares ulula Sipyloidea sipylus Bug Ovipositor Legumes Mesh Extatosoma tiaratum Carausius morosus Walking stick Ova Privet Lonchodes brevipes Menexenus batesii Stickbug Culture Hawthorn Puzzles are very Pseudodiacantha macklottii Lamponius portoricensis Parthenogenetic Rhododendron Robinia Ctenomorphodes briareus Entoria victoria Head Pyracantha Beech popular with our Eurycnema goliath Extatosoma popa Antennae Hypericum Moult readers. I could Diesbachia hellotis Lonchodinae Wings Fern Shed always do with Sungaya inexpectata Cladomorphinae Thorax Rose Ecdysis more, please. I Phasma gigas Xerodinae Abdomen Acacia Instar know they are iollv Haaniella muelleri Phasmatinae Six legs Fuschia Nymph hard work to Eurycantha coriacea Aschiphasmatinae Femur Eucalyptus Adult produce, but thev Aretaon asperrimus Heteropteryginae Tibia Raspberry Imago really are very much Pharmacia cantori Bacillinae Tarsus Bramble Enclosure appreciated. Aplopus cytherea Necrosciinae Metanotum Ivy Tank

December 2004 Newsletter 100.G Website: www.stickinsect.org.uk The Stick Talk list is totally independent of the PSG, though many Stick Talk list members are also members of the PSG. If you want to join the list, e-mail: [email protected] By Mike Smith It's totally free of charge; and if you do not like it, just send an e-mail asking to be taken off the list. It is also moderated so it's secure, safe from abusive language, and there will be no The Stick Talk list has around spam. As a Stick Talk list member, you normally receive one 180 members, from around 20 e-mail, on the subject of stick insects, most days - but usually countries worldwide. fairly short, and sometimes with a picture or two. Typical issues raised are in the following short extracts - enjoy.

TWIN EGGS. To Lisette: Your twin egg is certainly something to behold. I have raised hundreds of Ets, but I have never seen anything like that. I have had a hatchling with 2 heads and one with 2 rear ends, but they both came out of perfectly normal looking eggs. Neither one survived by the way. Good luck! Ursula. EPIDARES NOLIMETANGERE. Epidares nolimetangere are small and very beautiful stick insects. I'm keeping them in a small cage (30x40x30 cm) together with some Orestes mohoutii (PSG 192 formerly Datames mohoutii). At the bottom of the cage I have some peat-mould. This is where they lay their eggs. The peat- mould also keeps the cage quite moist. I feed them with bramble, oak, hawthorn and pyracantha. Pictures are of a male and a female. Rob.

EPIDARES NOLIMETANGERE #2. Please be careful you do not throw out Epidares that you think are dead. They can remain catatonic for 12 hours before moving again. That's why they are called ' touch me not' : they fall down when disturbed and even curl up their legs, totally mimicking a dead insect. But the fact is, they'll come round and happily continue what they were doing, even after 12 hours playing 'dead'. As a precaution, I always keep Epidares that I suspect are dead under surveillance, for at least two days (just to make sure). Lisette. (Picture of a nymph, by Stephen).

EUTHANASIA. Thanks, Natalie, for the write-up on the ethical/justifiable use of "euthanasia" for our sticks. If I may add, Tiffany and MJ both told me that sticks caught from the wild usually have missing limbs or antennae but are still very much viable in terms of getting ova to start a culture. My first PSG 90 gorkomi female had lost both its front legs and one antenna in the wild before it was caught, but still managed to lay hundreds of eggs that I was able to distribute to some members of our Group, and at the same time enabled me to start my own culture. Benjie

OREOPHOETES PERUANA. Here's a piccy of a newly-hatched Oreophoetes peruana. He/she has 26 little brothers and sisters so far with more each day. I think they look so cool with their yellow and black patterns. So far I've got a 100% hatch rate again this year. IVe been given some eggs of another Oreophoetes species by a friend, also fern eaters, which have a different coloration from peruana. I've been told the nymphs look different as well so I don't get them mixed up, lol. Stephen, [lol = "laugh out loud", or "smile", in textspeak. Ed.]

RHAMPHOSIPYLOIDEA GORKOMI. I'm sending a picture of one of my 'fancy' Rhamphosipyloidea gorkomi that has a distinct black marking running along its back from its head to its abdomen (top), versus a regular gorkomi (bottom). I keep separate cages for the two types and also maintain separate tubs for their ova. Benjie.

These items are typical of the sort of subjects covered in Stick Talk. I hope you found them interesting. If you have any of your own comments on these or other matters, please send them in to me for inclusion in the next Newsletter.

December 2004 Newsletter 700.7 Website: www.stickinsect.org.uk / i I.JSC Stick Talk - How It All Began by Ursula Sears (stickTalks Founder&P$G Member) 1 Four years ago I rescued some Indian sticks from a pet shop. Wanting to know! more about stick insects, I went browsing on the Internet and found a stickinsect 'Newsletter' among many websites dealing with stick insects. It was a privately owned, automated forwarding list. I signed up and the fun began. I learned a lot about stick insects, made many friends, and was given livestock to get me started. That list ran fine for over a year, when I got that nagging feeling that one day the list may come to an end. So I started collecting names and e-mail addresses of many of the members. Sure enough, there came a point when the owner of the list decided to modernise and offer a Forum Board instead. I knew I was going to miss my daily stick mail, and was sure that other members would too. So I started my own manual, forwarding list and named it Stick Talk. It was supposed to be a temporary solution until another list could be established, but my new list was such a success that I decided to keep it going. I had a lot of fun doing it, but I also suffered some major burnouts. It is quite a job doing a list day in, day out without a break.

In time, my friend Natalie Ford created a website for us, so we could attract new members, [www.sticklist.com] It was over a year later, when disaster struck. Somebody from a neighbouring country tried to send me some sticks and ova, but the package was confiscated at the Port of Entry and I was notified of that. I was worried sick for a long time since stick insects are 'not exactly legal' in my country. I decided it was time to close down the list. But none of the members wanted to see the list die, so Derek Pattenson from the UK volunteered to create a website from which we could send the messages. And almost 450 issues of Sticktalk later, that's where we are at to this day. I hope Sticktalk will continue for a long time in one form or another.

The picture is of me and my subadult female E.goliath. I named it: Please let go of my sweater! So now you all know what your current moderator looks like. :o) Love you all, Ursula.

Aretaon echinatus BvTiffanv of Stick Talk.

Goliath stick by Kim of Stick Talk.

These are examples of the wonderful pictures regularly received by Stick Talk list members.

Aretaon echinatus by Tiffany of Stick Talk.

m/::iK.:_ ?Jr.:..: • mmz."M. December 2004 Newsletter 100.8 Website: www.stickinsect.org.uk PSG Livestock & Picture Competition by Cameron Die Konigin Once again, the Phasmid Study Group will be running the Livestock and Photographic/drawing competition at the Natural History Museum on January 22, 2005, giving you the opportunity to enter your favourite stick insects and artwork.

Entry into the competition is, as always, free and is open to all members. There are two categories, Livestock and Photographic/drawing, each with a Junior Section for the fifteen and unders, giving our younger members an excellent opportunity to gain awards for themselves. The full list is:

1. Livestock 2. Livestock - Junior Section 3. Photographic/drawing 4. Photographic/drawing - Junior Section

This is an exciting opportunity for all of you to show off your insects and artistic skills whilst also providing a great display for other members to enjoy; allowing other members to see species that they may not normally get the chance to.

This is not just for the rare and unusual species, but for common ones as well, so every member will be able to compete and show off their favourite insect as well as give a good representation of the huge range of species available.

There are prizes for the best entries: you can choose either first choice of any livestock from the exchange table (most popular choice in the previous competitions) or one year free membership to the PSG.

How do I enter? - Simply bring along your entry to the meeting before 12 noon, take it to the competition table and follow the instructions provided.

So bring along your insects and pictures and good luck.

The rules are:

1. Competitors just turn up on the day - no pre-booking necessary.

2. Competitors to arrive by 12.00 p.m., before the meeting starts proper.

3. Competitors to put livestock in their own containers/cages not bigger than necessary, with food. Each container to hold only one species, either a single specimen or one pair (male and female).

4. The photographic/drawing competition to be open to any picture, of any size, of any number of insects.

5. On arrival, the competitors are to book in and place a numbered label on each entry, so it is anonymous to the judge(s).

6. Competitors can enter as many times as they wish.

7. The livestock will be put out on tables, the pictures on tables and walls.

8. There will be one prizewinner for each of the categories; Livestock Livestock - Junior Section Photographic/drawing Photographic/drawing - Junior Section

9. All entries are to be labelled with the stick insect's scientific name, food plant and, if applicable, PSG No. Labels for the exhibits will be provided and filled in at the meeting.

10. It is preferred if the entries remain on the exhibition tables until 4.30 p.m. to give everyone a chance to view them, although this is not mandatory. If you wish to remove an entry, please speak to a committee member.

11. All entries will remain the property of the contributors and must therefore be removed by them at the end of the day. For security reasons, exhibits should only be removed with the consent of a member of the committee.

12. Except for the competitor and judge(s), there must be no handling of any entries.

13. Each winner will be eligible for one prize each.

14. Photographs of the competition entries and winners may be submitted to the newsletter for publication.

15. All members, except for the judge(s), are eligible for entry.

16. The committee can, without prior notice and if deemed appropriate, alter the rules.

17. The PSG committee will nominate the judge(s).

18. The judges' decisions are final.

December 2004 Newsletter 100.9 Website: www.stickinsect.org.uk PSG AG IN/1 Winter Meeting

January 22nd; Saturday, 1 1 .30 am

Palaeontology Demonstration Room, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, SW7.

Another great meeting is planned for January 22nd. Extra special as it is also the 25th Anniversary of the PSG. If at all possible, please be there; we would very much like to see you.

It is your chance to meet, see and hear from the Committee Members. There will be the ever popular Livestock Exchange, plus the Question and Answer Session with the experts (bring some questions with you), and the livestock and picture competition - with prizes to be won - to look at and take part in. You can help decide who will form the next committee, vote on important PSG matters, and have a chat with other PSG members. If you have any spare time, you can look around the Natural History and Science Museums for free - what a great day out! See agenda and entry sheet on page 31 of this Newsletter.

If any member of the Phasmid Study Group wishes to stand for Office, or stand on the Committee, will he or she please contact the Chairman, Judith Marshall, to reach her by Wednesday 5th January 2005 at the latest: Department of Entomology, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, SW7 5BD. Tel: 020 7942 5610; FAX 020 7942 5229. E-mail: [email protected].

"THE F»S<3 SPECIES LIST by Tony James

This article is by the founder of the PSG. Tony kindly puts into perspective the origins of the Culture List, as a

special article for the 10(fh edition of the Newsletter. Many thanks for this Tony - it's very interesting reading.

I'm sure everyone who reads this, at some time or other has been asked, or has asked, "Have you got PSG 122?" or some other PSG number, and that you are all aware of the PSG Species List, but what are we really using it for

It has become the general way we refer to species in our Group, and it is interesting to note that the references have also been creeping outside to other groups as well, appearing on listings or species descriptions on the Internet. Try putting PSG and a number into one of the web Search Engines, like Google, and see how many entries not directly in the PSG comes up! As mentioned in my article in the March 2004 issue of our Newsletter, this is very much as it was intended when we first started the PSG, but I thought it worth re-visiting the aims, pitfalls, and ideas which have occurred since The List's inception.

The Species List has been administered by a number of people throughout the years of the PSG, starting with Jim Ashby and now currently residing in the hands of Phil Bragg, but what was the aim of it really? Over the later years it seems to be used only as an incomplete Culture List - there are many other species which have been in culture for years not yet on this list - but now species are only added if Phil gets specimens to check and keep in his reference collection. However, as far as I know, no-one else can easily see these specimens if they need to be referred to, so this is not really helping the rest of the Group. If anything, we should be placing any reference material into a central repository, such as the Natural History Museum where all entomologists can make an appointment to see them, and also to associate the material with historic specimens already there. This

December 2004 Newsletter 100.10 Website: www.stickinsect.org.uk Culture List is also not the only reason it was originally implemented, although, generally, it would be great if we could keep all the species on the list in culture.

When we originally started to populate the Species List, we were painfully aware that we had species coming into members' hands which either had no name (as with a totally new, or un-identified species) or where the possible name was in dispute (now where have I heard that before?) between Taxonomists in our Group. To overcome the uncertainty, and to give the "ordinary members" some common reference to use whilst the Taxonomists "thought" about it, we assigned any species coming into the group a PSG Number. It was not intended to just cover successful cultures, or only identified species, but was also to be used to make a source of reference information for species which were unsuccessful, so that we had an historic record of what had been tried, and our collective successes and failures.

So, why bother with species which didn't work out? There is an obvious answer when you think about it. Take the following example

Suppose 'Jim' goes off to some country and collects some species. Two readily eat Bramble or some other food-plant and enter our Group as a successful culture - Great!! Three other species collected refuse this ubiquitous Stick-Insect gourmet food, so Jim begins to try all sorts of other food-plants he can get his hands on. One species reluctantly eats something like Rose, one nibbled on a type of Grass, and the last refused anything he could try. The Rose-feeder goes into a very hesitant culture (which, we usually refer to as "Tentative"), but then dies out after two generations, the "Grass-feeder" culture survived a little longer before dying out one by one, whilst the last species became history from the start. Why bother to give these a PSG Number?

Well, suppose also a few years later, 'Fred', another active PSG member decides to go and explore this same country that 'Jim' had previously. He could go there without checking if there is anything known about the insects, or he could research to see if anything has been done before. He knows there are already two species in culture from this destination, but doesn't know who got them into culture in the PSG, and is not aware of any other species which were collected there. He goes out to this country, and, as well as finding the two species already in culture, finds three "new" species not recorded. He tries them on Bramble with no success, two species die before he can try anything else, the third he manages to get to take Rose, but half of his collected insects die within the first week. This culture also dies out after the first generation. Sound familiar? Has this been a waste of effort (and money) going there? My answer is an emphatic "Yes!"

It was to try to avoid this sort of problem that the Species List was originally produced. Not only did we include species which were "lost", but we were also keen to know who had acquired the source material, how and when. With previously tried species recorded, we also had a preliminary set of trial data to call on - 'Fred' could contact 'Jim' about the lost species to find out what problems were experienced. 'Fred' now has some data to start with and the chances are that he may be able to find the previously lost species and also find a successful food-plant without wasting time repeating what 'Jim' had to discover, and having his collected individuals dying in vain. The other scenario is that 'Jim' might have been unlucky with a single specimen (male or female) which didn't produce a viable culture (e.g. ecdysed badly, a male only, or just a single female nymph which ended up unmated as an adult) although it was feeding OK on an identified foodplant. 'Fred' might well be able to find new specimens and get this species into culture immediately, by knowing the initial findings. PSG No 1 ova, Carausius morosus. Picture Ronald Baxter. The best result from this is that the "lost" species will finally become "culture" species, and our list will reflect this as time goes by. It might also focus intended explorers in our group if it is known that a number of (possibly) interesting species are in a particular area and need further attempts to get them into culture. It also gives them a way to find out more about them before going to their destination.

OK, so this again sound like we are aiming to make The List a Culture List. Indirectly, it should, but it will always contain failed species for some reason or other. It could finally be useful data, as the main aim of our getting species into culture is to understand the species life cycle and make a proper record of it. Unlike early entomologists, who returned with dead specimens which were

December 2004 Newsletter 100.A 1 Website: www.stickinsect.org.uk quite often described as different species from males and females which looked different, we now can understand the variability of individual species and record all stages, so our group knowledge should become more complete, and extend our scientific knowledge more completely.

So how can we improve the usefulness of the Species List? As well as the existing information, it would also be useful to include information like:-

Previous identifications (right or wrong) and reasons for updating (synonyms, homonyms, identification error, taxonomic reviews). Dates original live material were first acquired (into the UK or Europe). Source Persons. Persons originating/establishing the cultures. Method of acquiring the culture material (e.g. wild collection, or importing from overseas contact). Zoogeographical Region code (I use this a lot in my own computer version of the list)

This would be our main reference material for everyone. Particular data be updated readily, and can be sorted from a main list (on a computer) according to a number of criteria, e.g. selected from "Culture", "Tentative", or "Lost" and also organised into groups like Zoogeographical Regions. These sub-divisions can be separated into individual lists as needed and unwanted columns "hidden" or removed as necessary.

Possibly, with the power of the Internet, we could link the data with a web-database so that latest information can be obtained easily by anyone with a computer access, but it should be hosted at a URL which is unlikely to cease after a few years.

Looking back over our early Species Lists, it was interesting to see the changes as it extended with the later versions. It is also notable that the list was originally titled "Phasmid Species Cultured / Attempted', a title which stayed until 1984, when it became "The Species List'. From around 1997 the title seemed to become more uncertain, with the "PSG Culture List' appearing on lists at times. The first list that I have is an undated document with 35 species listed. It must have been a first approximation as a subsequent list dated January 1982 was extended to 46 species and they had been rearranged into the approximate chronological order of introduction to the UK - the numerical order we know of today. However, I'm sure that, when we do get new issues, it is not the criteria for later entries in recent lists. At the beginning, we were working on identifying the culture histories and I have a number of supplementary lists from members compiling this information as it became available.

To give you an example, I have included the first 25 species of an early list (around 1982) with the data included and to bring it up to date, I have shown the historic identification paths for the species name as well. One example included is the "Species List' originally referred to as PSG 24 - Baculum impigrum (which came into the UK via a European source). A few years after this came to the PSG, it was decided that it was the same species as PSG 5 - Medauroidea extradentata, and hence referred to it in the list. It is currently a double entry, but there have been times when what appears to be the same culture has turned out to actually be close, but different, species collected from different areas of the world. Keeping the separate source records (and cultures), could therefore be useful, as they can still be updated as further information becomes available and a record path will always be there for reference. This is particularly important when apparently the same species is collected from a number of different geographical areas, as it could quite easily turn out that there are sub-races present which would be important as our understanding of species distribution improves.

Whatever we do, we must remember that, although many members just like keeping our fascinating chosen insect group, there are many members who have put time, money, and effort into making a large selection of species available to everyone and to increase our knowledge about them. Since the PSG has started, the "Species List" has extended continuously as more and more species are collected, so it is our collective responsibility to ensure that we use our Group to preserve the records for generations more enthusiasts into the future.

December 2004 Newsletter 100A 2 Website: www.stickinsect.org.uk Phasmid Species Cultured / Attempted Phasmid study Group

No.: Name Country I Year Source 1 ; Carausius morosus (Sinety) India. C 1898/1911 Culture originally via Sinety from French missionaries at Palni Hills, Tamil Nadu. 2 Pseudodiacantha macklottii (de Java. C 1950? Culture via London Zoo, imported in 1946 Haan) Ex. Orxines macklottii (de Haan) 3 Bacillus rossius (Rossi) Europe. C 1963? Source Unknown - Sold at Worldwide Sold as Bacillus gallicus Butterflies, Yeovil. 4 ! Sipyloidea sipylus (Westwood) Madagascar. C Pre 1964? Source Unknown - Sold at Worldwide Butterflies, Yeovil 5 Medauroidea extradentata Vietnam. c 1965? From London Zoo, Imported by dealer Mr (Brunner) Rose in mid-1950's 6 Acanthoxyla geisovii (Kaup) Scilly l./N. 0 Early Culture attempted from Tresco Abbey Ex. Acanthoxyla prasina (de Haan) Zealand. 1900's? Gardens, Scilly Isles, originally imported from NZ on plants. 7 ; Clitarchus hookeri (White) New Zealand & L I 1950's? Culture attempted from Tresco Abbey UK Gardens, Scilly Isles, originally imported from NZ on plants 8 Bactrododema tiaratum Stal Zimbabwe. L 1965? Via Mr Ashley from Dr Pinhey (Rhodesia, Africa) 9 Extatosoma tiaratum (Macleay) Australia. C 1965? Via London Zoo, eggs received from A.M.A. Low received from Queensland. 10 j Phyllium bioculatum Gray Java. C ! Mid 60's Imported by various dealers

11 Cladomorphus phyllinus Gray Brazil. C 3 1968 Cultured by Judith Marshall from eggs sent by Dr.L.Otero (Brazil) 12 Anisomorpha buprestoides (Stoll) U.S.A. c Early 70's Cultured by Judith Marshall from eggs via J.R.Bradley. 13 Acrophylla wuelfingi Australia. c Early 70's Imported by dealers. (Redtenbacher) 14 Eurycnema goliath (Gray) Australia. c 1970's From London Zoo

15 Ctenomorphodes briareus (Gray) Australia. c 1970's Collected from wild - Allan Harman

16 Carausius sechellensis (Bolivar) Seychelles. L 1983 Collected from wild - Allan Harman

17 Caribbiopheromera jamaicana Jamaica. C Early 70's Cultured via London Zoo, collected by Unidentified West Ind. 'Warty" Newmark brothers.

18 Heteropteryx dilatata (Parkinson) West Malaysia. 0 1975 1s' imported eggs from wild - Allan Harman, Others imported later. Cultured at London Zoo. 19 Lonchodes brevipes Gray West Malaysia. c 1974 Collected from wild - Allan Harman Ex. L.pterodactylus 20 Anchiale maculata (Olivier) Papua New c 1977 Collected from wild - Allan Harman Guinea. 21 Extatosoma popa Stal Papua New L 1977 Collected from wild - Allan Harman Guinea. 22 Ramulus thaii Hausleithner Thailand. c 1976 Collected from wild - Antony Julian-Ottie Ex. Unidentified Baculum sps. 23 Eurycantha calcarata Lucas Papua New c 1977 Collected from wild - Allan Harman Guinea. 24 Now considered same as 5 Asia jc Late 70's Culture obtained via Europe Ex. Baculum impigrum 25 Phobaeticus serratipes (Gray) West Malaysia. T 1980 A.James from eggs obtained via E.L.G. Ex. Pharnacia acanthopus Ex. Tirachoidea cantor!

December 2004 Newsletter 100.13 Website: www.stickinsect.org.uk EDITING THE PSG NEWSLETTER by Mike Smith.

INTRODUCTION. As this is a special, 100th edition of the Newsletter, I thought it opportune to give an insight into some aspects of the Newsletter, from the point of view of its current Editor.

HOW TO BECOME AN EDITOR. In my case, I was at the PSG AGM in January 2001 when the then editor, Paul Taylor, announced he would like someone else to take over the Newsletter editorship. I was fairly new and unknown to the PSG then, and I had no experience, but it sounded interesting so I offered my services. Unfortunately, I was the only volunteer so, nervously I'm sure, they gave this "unknown" person a trial period at editing the flagship of the PSG - its Newsletter. I do not recall the trial ever being officially over but I am still here now. As editor I have the privilege of reading all the articles and seeing all the pictures before anyone else. (Seriously, if you think I, or any committee member have been in their post for too long, you always have the option of voting someone else in their place at any PSG AGM).

QUALIFICATIONS FOR AN EDITOR. A bit academic, if there is only one volunteer. But ideally, I'd say, someone with a computer, stacks of spare time, an excellent knowledge of stick insects, long experience with and well-known to the PSG, with an excellent ability in spelling, grammar, scientific names, and Latin endings, and experience plus a flair for layout and design of a Newsletter. Well, I've got a computer (which works sometimes).

THE EDITING CYCLE. When I've finished one Newsletter I'm quite exhausted, so take a nice rest from Newsletters for a few weeks. But eventually, I open up the previous Newsletter, delete all the items (except for the titles of regular entries), thus leaving a blank Newsletter, which I top and tail and save as the next Newsletter. I then go through the contributions I've received to date, tidy them up, and insert them into the new Newsletter. I keep doing this until around the 15th of the month before publication. Then I reorganise the layout into something fairly logical, add an index, and send it off to Judith our Chairman for proof-reading. Judith has to read every word of the entire Newsletter in a short period of time (poor thing), checking for mistakes and errors in spelling, grammar, scientific names, Latin endings, scientific protocol, etc. A few days later, Judith returns the proof to me with a few amendments, which I carry out, then put the Newsletter onto two CDs - one I send to Paul Taylor our Webmaster, so he can use various articles in the PSG website, the other goes to Paul Brock for printing and distribution (as if being Treasurer and Membership Secretary were not onerous enough - what a star!).

WHO CONTRIBUTES TO THE NEWSLETTER? Members may have noticed I take every opportunity to chase for contributions, what a bore; but without contributions, there can be no Newsletter. However, I only ever ask nicely, never do I demand, and I always willingly accept refusals. Fortunately, I have a number of regular contributors, who are my lifeline (thanks to you all), though many others contribute excellent "on-offs" too. But I'm always in need of more contributions (please).

ARE THE CONTRIBUTORS PROFESSIONAL WRITERS? Some of them are, yes, but by far most contributors are not. Indeed, I sometimes get someone wanting to contribute, but nervous to do so in case they would look foolish in some way, or that their contribution would not be up to the Newsletter's standard. In answer I would say that I publish almost everything that is sent to me, and if it all looks good in the Newsletter it is because spelling, grammatical errors, and layout are tidied up and, if I feel necessary, a picture added, and then anything can look great. Many contributors send their articles to a PSG friend to check it over before sending it to me, which also helps ensure it looks good.

ARE ARTICLES REWRITTEN BY THE EDITOR? Definitely not! I've not got the time, knowledge, or inclination to re-write contributions. 1 merely do two things. Firstly, I try to make sure that the article would make sense to readers, eg that words are used correctly (so far as I am able - as I do not have a degree in English). Eg I'd edit: "I,m gald to say me E. Tiaratuymhas left it's egg and is Doing well.", to: "I'm glad to say that my Extatosoma tiaratum has left its egg and is doing well.". I'd be leaving the ORIGINAL words there, I'd just be trying to make them easier to understand - but only where deemed necessary. Secondly, I may alter the font and layout so the article fits better into the Newsletter - and if there is no picture I may add one to make the article more appealing. I get some articles sprawled out over say 4 pages, which is OK as I accept any layout initially, but I can often easily compress it into one or less pages - space is limited and expensive in the Newsletter, so I'm afraid it is necessary for me to do this.

WHAT ABOUT COPYRIGHT? Contributors to the Newsletter automatically agree to the PSG using the contribution for eg the Newsletter and Website (see disclaimers, etc, in any Newsletter). But the contributor retains copyright, and can reproduce the article anywhere else (but should add to it that it first appeared in the PSG Newsletter). When I use information from Websites, Newspapers, etc, I always go back to the owner to seek their permission to reproduce it in our Newsletter - time-consuming though it is.

HOW CAN CONTRIBUTORS HELP? I am willing to accept any article by any means, eg e-mail, handwritten, on disc, etc, and in any software eg MS Word, DOS, Word Perfect, etc. But my preference is for it to be attached to an e- mail or sent on a disc, in MS Word, with any pictures placed on a MS Word document. Any layout is acceptable - but 1 will normally ensure that it ends up with all fonts in either Arial or Times New Roman, main paragraphs 10 point, and 8 point in captions. Paragraphs are "justified", and the page layout is A4, with margins 1.5 cm top, 2 cm bottom, and 1.85 December 2004 Newsletter ^00.14 Website: www.stickinsect.org.uk cm left and right. (Apart from anything else, this ensures the Newsletter is compatible with Paul's printers). Also, I have tried contacting show organisers for locations, dates, etc, but I find it very frustrating, expensive (phone calls, etc), and time consuming. Therefore, if any members can give me details for the Diary page, I'd be very much obliged. I spend tens of hours producing each Newsletter, and each Newsletter takes up around 35 megabytes of disc space.

WHAT IF READERS DO NOT LIKE THE WAY THE NEWSLETTER IS EDITED? I try to make stick-keeping a serious subject packaged as a fun hobby. I look at other Newsletters, decide what I like and dislike about them, and use my findings in the PSG Newsletter. However, I also take on board every comment on it ever made to me by PSG members. So, if there is anything in the Newsletter you would like changed, added or left out please let me know and I will try to oblige.

WHY USE MS WORD? I have looked at and tried other possibilities, eg MS Publisher but, stuck-in-the-mud that I am, I find I am most at home with MS Word - which I have much experience with. That is not to say it is the best medium for our Newsletter, eg I spend much frustrating time when it just will not put pictures or paragraphs where I want them to go. But I find other systems I've tried have even more misgivings. I am also limited by the resources of my computer. I've spent much (of my own) time and money on the computer to get the best system for myself and for processing Newsletters; with updates, downloads, etc. But, doubtless like most computers, it tends to have a mind of its own. And since it crashed earlier in the year, and I had to replace my hard drive, it has never been as good - eg I can no longer download digital pictures from my digital camera (though I have bought a new driver CD, and taken much advice on the matter), also I have great difficulty opening some pictures sent to me - hence I prefer them in a MS Word document.

NOTICE

It is to be directly understood that all views, opinions or theories, expressed in the pages of "The Newsletter" are those of the author(s) concerned. All announcements of meetings, requests for help or information, are accepted as bona fide. Neither the Editor, nor Officers of "The Phasmid Study Group", can be held responsible for any loss, embarrassment or injury that might be sustained by reliance thereon.

December 2004 Newsletter 7O0.15 Website: www.stickinsect.org.uk ORIGIN OF THE SPECIES LIST by Allan J. E. Harman

In 2005 the PSG will be 25 years old! I feel that it is appropriate to list the history of some of the species.

PSG 2. Pseudodiacantha macklottii (de Haan, 1842) This species has been in culture since 1946. Original stock brought back from Java by a returning serviceman who gave the stock to the London zoo. The present culture is from this source.

PSG 15. Ctenomorphodes briareus (Gray, 1834) This species was imported in egg form from Australia in early 1970's by Eric Gowing-Scopes, a coleopterist, who passed the eggs to me.

PSG 16 Carausius sechellensis (Bolivar, 1895)

Original stock was collected by me in 1983 and later supplemented by stock from Young and Pat Jones. Culture now lost.

PSG 17 Caribbiopheromera jamaicana (Zompro, 2001)

This species was collected by the Newmark brothers in the 1970's for the London zoo.

PSG 19 Lonchodes brevipes (Gray, 1835) This species is from stock collected in 1974 by me. The original material is from the Cameron Highlands of Pahang Malaysia. PSG 20 Anchiale maculata (Olivier, 1825)

Original stock collected in Wau, Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea in 1977. Culture now lost.

PSG 21 Extatosoma popa (Stal, 1875) Original stock collected in Wau, Morobe Province, Papua New Guinea. Colony died out after one year. A subsequent culture was established in 1997 from eggs imported from New Guinea. Colony now lost. PSG 23 Eurycantha calcarata (Lucas, 1869)

Colony established from eggs from New Britain, Papua New Guinea in 1977

PSG 26 Haaniella echinata (Redtenbacher, 1906) This species was established from adults and eggs brought back from Ulu Dusun, Sabah. Subsequent material brought back by other collectors. PSG 27 Carausius chani (Hausleithner, 1990) This species was originally collected from Ulu Dusun, Sabah in 1979; Culture died out, re-established by Mark Bushell. PSG 36 Lonchodes hosei hosei (Kirby, 1896)

Original culture from Batu Niah, Sarawak in 1979; subsequently more collected from Sarawak.

PSG 37 Lopaphus perakensis (Redtenbacher, 1908)

Original culture collected in 1980 from Cameron Highlands, Pahang, West Malaysia.

PSG 38 Dares validispinus (Stal, 1875) Original culture collected in 1979 from Beta Nial, Sarawak, subsequent material collected from the same locality in 1980. PSG 39 Lonchodes jejunas (Brunner, 1907) Original culture in 1980 from Batu Niah, Sarawak. PSG 40 Lopaphus nanoalatus Brock, 1999 "Microwings"

Original culture collected in 1980 from Cameron Highlands of Pahang West Malaysia. Culture now lost.

PSG 43 Graeffea sp. Original culture collected from Fiji in 1981. Graeffea is a species adapted to feeding on palms. Colony now lost. PSG 47 Phanocles costaricensis (Hennemann, 2002)

December 2004 Newsletter "/OO. 1 6 Website: www.stickinsect.org.uk Original culture collected from Costa Rica, culture died out. Subsequently re-established in 1989 from adults and eggs collected from Monteverde, Costa Rica. Culture now lost.

PSG 51 Libethra sp. Original culture collected from Tingo Maria in Peru in 1982. Culture now lost.

PSG 66 Carausius sanguineoligatus (Brunner, 1907) Culture originally from Mount Kinabalu, Sabah.

PSG 73 Phenacephorus cornucervi (Brunner, 1907) Culture originally from Mount Kinabalu, Sabah.

PSG 74 Ctenomorphodes sp.

Culture collected from the Botanical Gardens in Cairns, Queensland.

PSG 106 Oncotophasma martini (Griffini, 1896)

Culture from adults collected in Monte Verde, Costa Rica in 1989. Culture now lost.

PSG 152 Phanocloidea nodulosa (Redtenbacher, 1908)

Culture originally collected in August 1992 on the River Parucito, Amazones, Venezuela.

PSG 186 Chondrostethus woodfordi (Kirby, 1986) Culture originally from adults collected during August 1996 at Munde, New Georgia, Solomon Islands, A previous culture was established in 1977 but did not survive. PSG 209 Lopaphus brachypterus (de Haan, 1842) Culture established from eggs received from Francis Seow-Choen in Singapore in 1999. Culture now lost. PSG 229 Ramulus? (Khao-Yai) (round eggs) Culture originated from area around Kheo-Yai National park in 2000

PSG 241 Carausius spinosus (Brunner, 1907)

This culture originated from a female collected at Chenderiang Perak on the 6th August 1999. More eggs were obtained from a pair collected on Gunung Jelai, Kedah.

Lopaphus sp1. Laos not on PSG list

This culture originated from a female collected on 16th August 2002 at Kouangsi waterfall, Luang, Prebang Province, Laos.

Lopaphus sp2 Laos Not on PSG list This culture originated from the same location as sp1 above.

Ramulus sp. Laos

This culture originated from stock collected on the 4th August 2002 at Lao Paco, Vientiane Province, Laos

Brazil sp1

This culture originated from two females collected at Fazenda Santa Teresa, Mato Grosso State on 6th August 2003 Brazil sp2 This culture originated from a female collected at Malcosas Lodge, Rio Preto da Ena in August 2003

Membership Renewal Due Just a gentle reminder that your membership subscription for 2005 is now due. You must renew your membership to continue receiving PSG Newsletters. Please complete the renewal form on page 33 of this Newsletter, or use the membership page in the PSG Website: www.stickinsect.orq.uk. There can be no other reminders - sorry.

December 2004 Newsletter 100.17 Website: www.stickinsect.org.uk AES Show 2nd October 2004 by Paul Brock

[I was very disappointed not to be at the excellent show this year. One of the best shows in the diary, and very popular with PSG members. Paul has kindly obliged with a short report and some pictures.]

As usual things were busy at the AES Exhibition. The PSG had tables with interesting displays and the free livestock was very popular. Wexham Court Primary School, Slough, had a range of displays and children helped visitors handle phasmids. The giant Mantis created by Julie Sliski was very popular and just about made it on the coach!

December 2004 Newsletter 700.18 Website: www.stickinsect.org.uk IVIV PHASMID HOBBY — A FAMILY AFFAIR By: Benjamin Z. Mabanta, Philippines, PSG Membership No. 2614 Many thanks to the Mabanta family for excellent contributions!

No matter how hard or frustrating it sometimes gets, phasmid-keeping is definitely well worth it. Aside from the fact that we help preserve biodiversity by culturing these insects, phasmids are beautiful, easy to care for and are, in fact, the ideal pet.

I got my first phasmid, a wild-caught specimen from Mindanao, Philippines (a still unidentified species related to Pseudodiacantha macklottii, PSG#2), just last November 2003 or roughly less than a year ago. Since then, I have already had the privilege of acquiring other wild-caught specimens, as well as ova of different species from friends developed all over the world (special thanks to Sticktalk). Despite having kept phasmids for only a relatively short period of time, these have already provided me a rich assortment of experiences that will last me a lifetime. Some of these experiences were good, such as getting my very first ova and eventually, my first hatching, witnessing my first moulting, or making new acquaintances with people of the same interest. Some were not so good - like when your one and only nymph dies, or your ova do not hatch, or your lone-laying female passes away. I can't help but wonder what lies ahead.

One thing I have cherished, however these experiences have gone, is that these always provide great learning - not just for me, but for my kids. And the best part is the bonding that is created as you involve them in the day-to-day activities needed to sustain your culture. As proof, I got a big surprise one day and felt a great deal of joy when my eldest daughter, Iris, brought home this short essay from school, which I would like to share with you. It was the first time I knew how much my "hobby" was rubbing-off on them and how it all made us happy!

I felt this as an appropriate theme since the PSG's next 25 years will greatly depend on the next generation of phasmid lovers. And what better way to ensure this than to pass on our interest on phasmids to our children. Congratulations to the PSG on its silver anniversary and may it have more fruitful years to come!

"Title: Our Stick/Leaf Insect Pets By: Iris Marie C. Mabanta, Age: 7

One day, my Dad went to Mindanao. He saw a girl stick insect and it laid eggs. One time, we went to the butterfly house and then we saw leaf insects. And there were eggs, and we got some. One hatched and we were happy. But it died. Then much later, some more hatched, some died, but some lived. So we had many stick insects and we were happy. We still have a lot of stick and leaf insect eggs. And when they hatch, we will be very HAPPY!

December 2004 Newsletter 700.19 Website: www.stickinsect.org.uk Review of Colchester Zoo Invertebrate Day, 14 August 2004 by Tom Low

Contrary to the September Newsletter, the Colchester Zoo Invertebrate Day was not cancelled! It took place on a sunny day in August and there was quite a large turnout for it. Most of the activities were children's face painting, 'bug hunts' etc; however, an entomological group were there with a wide selection of invertebrates on display, including sticks.

Extatosoma tiaratum nymphs and a few adult Eurycantha calcarata made an appearance, along with a few tarantulas; Flat Rock, Emperor, and several desert scorpions; a pair of whip-scorpions and a pair of tailless whip-scorpions. There were also many snakes on display. These all attracted a lot of interest while at the same time giving you enough time to look round the rest of the zoo. Tailless whip-scorpion - not a stick but interesting all the same! Disappointingly however there were no sun-spiders or, more surprisingly, praying mantids on show. All in all, however, an interesting and enjoyable day. All these were in addition to the zoo's own stock: a colony of leaf cutter ants and a large group of Aretaon asperrimus. In my own experiences with these sticks I have found them to be very prolific, to eat anything (including a rubber band keeping the lid on their water pot, causing it to snap very loudly at 6 o'clock in the morning, making me have to get up and repair it to stop them falling in the water, having had an unfortunate experience previously (see below)), and the ability to come back to life! I woke one morning to find that my two males had somehow, by some unlucky twist of fate, both got inside the water pot for their leaves, fallen in and drowned. By the look of them they had been floating there for several hours, and were obviously dead. Therefore I decided to set them while their limbs were still flexible. I was therefore rather surprised when, several hours later, they simultaneously came back to life!! Within seconds of each other, they started twitching, then waving antennae and legs, in a way that was almost like coming out of a coma! Even once I had unpinned the poor sticks and freed them back into their tank, it was a further three days before they eventually died, just showing the incredible survival abilities of insects!

Two more unrelated things: firstly, the unknown stick from the Philippines on the colour page of the September newsletter looks to me like Sungaya inexpectata. I have found these sticks to be like AAs in that they are very prolific and eat anything (when they get to the end of a leaf they will continue eating down the stem, thorns and all, and also will attempt to eat plastic mesh and cardboard boxes when the opportunity arises). However I have not yet, and am not planning to, test their powers of immortality like the AAs!

Finally an answer to the September newsletter's request for reasons for not attending PSG meetings: at my school we work on Saturday mornings, and the winter meeting falls within term-time; therefore unless it takes place nearer the beginning of January, I will be unable to attend an AGM for the next 3 years a very sad thought indeed! Thanks, Tom, for an interesting report - and great pictures. It sounds like an excellent day out. The PSG did not get an invite to the Invertebrate Day this year, and I was told they had invited ERAS (Essex Reptile And Snake Society) to display snakes and lizards instead. Last year our PSG stall was the only one there, where did these others come from?

December 2004 Newsletter 100.2.0 Website: www.stickinsect.org.uk The Maintenance of Phasmid Cultures By Allan Harman

When 1 began keeping phasmids during the 1960's, there were some 6 or 7 species in culture. There was a slow increase in the number of species available in the 1970's. The main centre for exchange and distribution during this time was the AES annual exhibition; the PSG came about some time in the future.

After the formation of the PSG in 1980, the species list began to rise annually as interest grew both here and in mainland Europe. Many of these were and are favourite species for members. The PSG list for May 2003 lists 244 species but many more are in culture here and elsewhere in the world. I list below the species known to me (October 2004) being maintained but not on the PSG list.

BACILLIDAE Pseudodatames memorabilis Redtenbacher, 1906 Madagascar Anisacantha difformis i/ Redtenbacher, 1906 Madagascar Parectatosoma mocquerysi Finot, 1898 Madagascar Dares guangxiensis^ Bi & Li, 1994 Hong Kong Leiophasma sp. ^ Madagascar

DIAPHEROMERIDAE Bacteria ferula (Fabricius, 1793) Dominica Bostra lobata' Redtenbacher, 1908 Panama (listed as Bacteria) Paraphanocles keratosqueleton (Olivier, 1792) Grenada Prisomera repudiosum

PHASMATIDAE Diapherodes gigantea (Gmelin, 1788) Grenada Lamponius dominicae -'' Rehn & Hebard, 1938 - Dominica Canachus alligator > Redtenbacher, 1908 New Caledonia Eurycantha coronata - Redtenbacher, 1908 Papua New Guinea Phobaeticus heusii i/ Hennemann & Conle, 1997 Vietnam Pharnacia ponderosa^- Stal, 1877 Philippines Hermachus sp. New Hebrides (Vanuata) Eurycnema osiris (Gray, 1834) Australia Megacrania tsudai, Shiraki, 1932 Taiwan Erinaceophasma vepres vepres (Brunner, 1907) Papua New Guinea

~~PHYLLIiDAE~~

~~Phyllium sp. y Philippines~~

~~PSEUDOPHASMATIDAE Pseudophasma sp. Costa Rica Pseudophasma phthisica (Linnaeus, 1758) Brazil Metriophasma diodes • (Westwood, 1859) Panama Pseudophasma sp.v^ Peru~~

In addition to the above I have another 3 species from Brazil and Guadeloupe. Other members have even more species. Many of the above species are of the 'exotic' type, while others are of the more 'usual' stick type. Hopefully with this plea members will keep space for the more usual species.

At the Summer PSG Meeting, Allan raised the interesting point that some stick insects are dying out through lack of interest in them. If you have a concern in, or ideas for, keeping the rarer (or less-interesting) stick insects, or maybe for out-breeding the popular stick insects, please pass your ideas to the Newsletter.

~~December 2004 Newsletter 100.21 Website: www.stickinsect.org.uk Growing Eucalyptus From Seed. By Cameron Die Konigin~~

Introduction. Blackberry (Rubus fruticosa agg.) is the food plant for the majority of phasmids in culture and is easily found in hedgerows and woods - so sourcing it for your insects is not normally too difficult. Some phasmids however have more specific tastes when it comes to their food plant and won't accept blackberry. This can vary considerably, for example Oreophoetes prefers fern, and Eurycnema prefers Eucalyptus.

If you are fortunate, these other food plants are readily available within your area but in some cases they are not. Eucalyptus is a good example - either you have one or two growing in your, or a locally accessible, garden that you can collect from or there isn't one for miles. Of course, if you do not have access to a phasmid's preferred food plant, then you cannot keep that species.

The obvious way round the problem, if you do not have access to the required food plant, is to start producing your own and the purpose of this article is to look at how to get you started with your own Eucalyptus.

~~The disadvantage of growing from seed, rather than purchasing readily grown plants, IMJ~~

is the time scale. Naturally, a purchased plant will be ahead and therefore can be ' ~^--^»«r':-- harvested sooner than ones grown from seed, but Eucalyptus is a very rapid grower so this advantage would only be for the initial two years or so.

How to grow from seed. Virtually all the species that are available as seed commercially, can be grown following the same method. The only variation you may find is that some species require stratification and this is usually mentioned for the species in the seed catalogue (for an explanation of stratification, see the note at the end of this article).

Eucalyptus seed is quite small and therefore it is often mixed in with a lot of chaff. I do not find that this causes any problems and I usually sow the whole lot without separating it, even though the dark brown seed is obvious amongst the lighter coloured chaff. Eucalyptus seed is best sown in the spring (April - June [in England]). Any earlier and there is insufficient day light for successful germination/growth and any later will give the resulting plants less time to grow before the colder weather comes in and stops growth all together.

Method of sowing. Step 1. I use a three-inch pot and fill it with an equal mix of John Innes No. 3 and peat substitute based compost. Tap the compost down until there is a half-inch gap from the top of the pot to the top of the compost.

December 2004 Newsletter ?00.22 Website: www.stickinsect.org.uk Step 2. Sprinkle the seed over the surface of the compost evenly, trying to leave an even spacing between the seed. I usually sow only half the packet, saving the rest in case anything happens to the first batch and I need to sow another.

Step 3. The seed can be left uncovered and they will germinate successfully. However if you are not the sort of person who can guarantee that they will not dry out, the seeds can be covered with a very fine layer of compost (no thicker than the seeds themselves). To do this, simply put some compost into a kitchen sieve and sieve it over the seeds. K A Step 4. The compost will need watering. Because of the fine nature of the IVS seeds, if water was simply poured onto the compost, they will be washed around and germination may be erratic. The best method is to either use a plant sprayer and spray the surface until it is thoroughly moist or stand the pots in an inch of water and allow the compost to soak up water until it appears on the compost surface, usually for no more than five minutes and then allow the pot to drain.

Step 5. Place the pots in a well-lit place, ideally in a greenhouse or on a window ledge. Although plenty of light is needed, avoid somewhere where V \l there is full sun for most of the day otherwise the compost may dry out. Under no circumstances should the compost be allowed to dry out. Eucalyptus seeds and seedlings are easily killed if this happens.

Eucalyptus seeds germinate readily and the seedlings should appear within 7 - 10 days from sowing. It is crucial that the compost remains moist as the seedlings, especially at this stage, are small and very delicate. Eucalyptus seedlings are also quite distinctive and the majority of the ones that I have grown all have characteristic cotyledons (these are the first two leaves to appear after germination and are often termed 'seed leaves'). Generally, they are shaped like kidneys and often have a bluish tinge, normally seen in the Three Month Old adult leaves. Eucalyptus stricklandii

The seedlings are best left in the pot, undisturbed until the first two true leaves have fully appeared from the centre of the two cotyledons. This is because the root system is very fine and until the seedlings are large enough, re-potting could cause damage. The two true leaves usually takes a couple of weeks to emerge and fully expand, and then the can seedlings be re-potted.

To re-pot, gently tip out the pot and then carefully loosen each of the seedlings from the compost and plant them into their own individual pots, using the same compost as you used when sowing the seed. Give them a good watering and place them in a situation out of direct sunlight for two weeks whilst they re-establish. Then treat them as you would any other re-potted plant. If the weather is reasonable, the seedlings can be placed outside.

Eucalyptus can grow quite quickly and by the end of the growing season (late autumn/early winter]) when they stop growing, they should reach about 12 inches in height. Eucalyptus can be over wintered in their pots in an unheated greenhouse/sheltered part of the garden for planting out the following spring.

Once planted out, Eucalyptus will grow extremely quickly and in the first year can grow up to three feet in height. Because they grow so quickly, they have a tendency, until the trunk thickens, to be top heavy and flop over. To solve this, cut off the whole plant to twelve inches from the ground. This will encourage several new shoots to re grow from the stump. Select one and re-grow this as the new trunk, cutting out all the others. This new trunk will be more stable than the first and much less prone to flopping over. Naturally, any shoots removed can be used as food for your stick insects.

~~Different methods of growing Eucalyptus trees. Eucalyptus can be grown using various different methods depending on how you wish to have the end result and are as follows:~~

1. Standard tree. By allowing one trunk to develop, a full size tree can result. Although impressive to look at, the drawback is that as the lower branches are successively removed for feeding to your insects, it becomes ever more difficult to reach the remaining higher branches.

December 2004 Newsletter 100.23 Website: www.stickinsect.org.uk 2. Multi stemmed tree. Instead of one single trunk, Eucalyptus can be grown with several. For this, the original young tree needs to be cut down, as mentioned earlier for a floppy tree, but instead of growing up a single stem, as many new shoots as required are kept to form several new trunks. This would give rise to many more trunks and therefore many more branches to harvest but as for the standard tree, as time passes it will become ever more difficult to reach the remaining higher branches.

3. Pollarded tree. This is where the tree is allowed to grow naturally for the first two to three years until a reasonable trunk has formed. Once a reasonable height has been achieved (seven to eight feet), the upper portion is cut off, leaving it about five feet high. The remaining trunk will, within a few weeks begin to sprout new shoots. This will give the ultimate effect of a lollipop, a tall trunk with a ball of shoots at the top, each of which, if left to grow, will form thick branches. The branches are then harvested when required, being cut back to the original point from where they sprouted. This will then prompt new shoots to sprout in their place, renewing your supply of Eucalyptus. The advantage of this method is that the branches are always at a suitable harvesting level.

4. Coppiced tree. This method is virtually identical to the pollarded tree except that instead of having a trunk to which you cut the branches back to, the whole tree is cut back to ground level. This will prompt a whole mass of shoots and Coppiced each time one of the shoots is cut, it is cut Tree. from down at ground level. Another will then grow in its place. This is the equivalent of having a shrubby Eucalyptus rather than a tree.

~~Both the Pollarding and Coppicing methods of growing Eucalyptus results in a much smaller tree that is more suitable/manageable for the smaller garden.~~

Sources of seed. There are several companies that sell Eucalyptus seed but I have, in recent years, used just one, Chiltern seeds. This is simply because they offer a comprehensive range of species, with information for each, at a reasonable price. Contact details are:

~~Chiltern Seeds, Bortree Stile, Ulverston, Cumbria, LA12 7PB, England. www.chilternseeds.co. uk~~

Eucalyptus height in the initial years from seed. The table below will give you an approximate height for each successive year when growing from seed. These heights are dependent on many factors such as growing conditions and the species grown, but it will give you an idea of what to expect.

~~First year - 12 inches, Second year - 3 feet, Third year - 7 feet, Fourth year - 14 feet. Pollarded Tree.~~

Easy species. The following three species are ones that I have had the greatest success with so far, when growing from seed, although I should expect that most of the others would be as easy. E. dalrympleana, E. viminalis, E. stricklandii.

Stratification. Stratification is a method of encouraging seeds to come out of dormancy and is usually done by chilling them for a period of four to six weeks. Although the catalogues recommend stratification for certain species, I have had adequate success with some of these species without chilling them, the seed germinating quite successfully.

Acknowledgments. I am always indebted to someone for the articles that I write for the newsletters and for this one Janine Fletcher, the PSG co-coordinator, is no exception. She managed to read this article despite being a very busy person - thank you for your help Janine.

~~December 2004 Newsletter 100.24 Website: www.stickinsect.org.uk A "SHORT TRIP" TO EUROPE by Tony & Pat James~~

This is another excellent article on the dawn of the PSG by its founder, Tony James, PSG Member No 1. It gives an insight into how things were in 1982, and I am much indebted to Tony for providing us all with this inside information.

A map of our route (-1200 As the PSG developed, our numbers increased and other well-known miles in 5 days through 4 countries, not including our names came to the fold. By 1982, Peter Curry, from the Centre for Life trip of 600 miles from Studies - an educational building attached to London Zoo, close by the Cornwall return) Snowdon Aviary - had arranged for us to hold our Summer meetings there. This was an amazing place with the rooms downstairs a veritable "Aladdin's Cave" with all sorts of animals being bred for schools, and upstairs a lounge and library LONDON """n™ used for teacher reference and training.

The Centre also had publishing capability, and for a while Peter was able to copy and post our Newsletters for us. He never worked 9 to 5 hours, and I often spent the evening there, sometimes up to midnight, whilst he fed, cleaned, or treated animals. I also spent many an unusual hour trying to catch Chinchillas which had escaped, hunting for newly hatched Pythons, or feeding white Rats - you never did know what was going to be there.

In the lead up to the 1983 Summer Meeting, Peter told me he had made contact with a number of people in Europe who were breeding Phasmids and Leaf Insects, and would Pat & I like to join him in a "short tour" to go and meet them, and perhaps exchange species. As we had to drive up from Cornwall to go anywhere, we agreed to combine our travels and do the trip immediately following the Summer Meeting to save costs.

The Sunday meeting was the usual enthusiastic success with lots of PSG members attending but, as usual, some of us remained in the evening whilst Peter did final checks on the animals. As a result, we didn't get back to Peter's place until late and quickly went to bed, as we had an early start, at 05.00 in the morning, to leave for Dover and the cross-channel ferry. Still tired, we left on time in Peter's Polo Estate car and got to Dover in time to board the 06.15 ferry, which took us to Zeebrugge in Belgium.

On arrival, I took over driving and, passing through the north of Belgium, we headed into The Netherlands up to a town, Hilversum, just outside Amsterdam, arriving there at around 14.00 (2 o'clock in the afternoon). We looked for Peter's first contact, but at the house, his father told us he was still in work. Peter had hoped to spend an hour there, and then head north to Denmark, but we were persuaded stay to meet Eric Van Gorkom - who together with his father, Johanne and brother, Oscar - became very well known in the PSG, and later the founders of the European Phasmid group, "Phasma". Typical Danish house like Neils Wigg's When Eric got home, they told us they were delighted to find out about the PSG, as they had thought that they were the only people interested in Phasmids. They already had an annex at One of Neils' species the back of the house with lots of cages built in, and we spent the early evening looking at many of their culture species, including large Pharnacia species, and also adult Extatosoma and Acrophylla out on a bramble bush in their garden. Pete's planned timetable went out the window as we were persuaded to stay for evening meal, and to stay the rest of the evening and night with the family. Oscar was temporarily moved from his room to accommodate Pat & myself, and Peter ended up on a camp-bed up in the roof. After a nice meal prepared by Eric's mother Jeanne, we all settled down, with a crate of local lager available, and chatted the night away until we finally went to bed at midnight.

Here we had to try to recover the timetable again, as Peter had arranged to meet up with someone in the middle of Denmark on the Tuesday afternoon, and had planned that we would have got to the north of Germany by Monday evening. To overcome the time, we had to get up at 4 a.m. in the morning, creeping out of the house in the

December 2004 Newsletter 700.25 Website: www.stickinsect.org.uk early hours. Over the border into Germany, we headed north-east towards Hamburg, stopping off briefly for an enormous local breakfast of ham, eggs, & potatoes and strong coffee at 7 a.m.

Back on the road, we joined the north-bound E3 autobahn to Denmark, switching driving as we were both still quite tired. Over the border into Denmark, we continued north through an undulating countryside of golden corn fields and fir trees to the central area and a small town called "Bording", where we met our next contact, Neils Wigg at around 15.00 (3 o'clock) in the afternoon . Following him into the wild outback, we arrived at a beautiful Danish house and was introduced to Neils' wife, who put on a delicious evening meal of Danish open sandwiches. Replenished, we looked over Neils' cultures which consisted of a cage full of a new species of Leaf Insects from Sri Lanka (Identified as Phyllium bioculatum agathyrsus), listed now as PSG 59. The adult females were particularly beautiful, showing brown, yellow, and green individuals (see picture). These were being reared on Raspberry. The adjacent cage held another new species to us, Eurycnema goliath (although it was later decided it was E.herculeana, and is currently re-identified again as PSG 28: E.versirubra) feeding on Oak. When asked about what food he fed them on in Winter, Neils said that "he didn't", and that he collected eggs when the foodplants ran out at the beginning of Winter and reared them in the Spring, so his cultures were very much controlled by the seasons. Having obtained some nymphs of both species from Neils in exchange for some of our species, we were directed back to Bording where we took up lodging in a small Guest-house.

By now we were all very tired, having had only a few hours sleep for 2 nights, but Peter was again keen to leave early the following morning to meet a further contact in Germany he had arranged for the afternoon. Pat & I rebelled at this as it was becoming dangerous driving in that state, so we decided that the next meeting had to be the next evening, not afternoon, and we could all do with a proper night's sleep. Reluctantly this was agreed, and after a leisurely breakfast we began our journey again at 10 a.m.. Back over the border on the E3, we drove down to Hanover and then south-westwards toward Dortmund, where we left the Autobahn for a small town called Lage. Our next contact (sorry, can't remember his name now) lived there and was rearing another Malaysian Phyllium species (I think this is listed as PSG 60). When we arrived, it was in the midst of a family turmoil, as our contact's wife had just gone into labour with their impending child. Consequently our visit was very brief, with a quick exchange of some nymphs of the insects, and we were directed to a small modern Inn at the edge of the town for our night's stay.

Our evening meal there was very nice, but we got a little communications problem with the final course as the pretty serving girl only knew the German names of the fruit being offered. We were trying to decide what she was describing with much animation, when she went away and returned with - a Blackberry! Peter then made a comment that we had small animals that ate the leaves, and the next thing we knew was they were both off to his room to have a look at them. Fortunately, they returned a little while later, and we discovered that the girl was actually the Host's wife, but it didn't seem to be a problem and they still treated us OK afterwards.

Another "restful" night, and we were again off on the road to DQsseldorf to visit a contact Peter had at the Loebeck Museum, a three story building containing floor galleries with beautiful displays of live Insects, Reptiles & Fish. After a quick look around the galleries, we were directed down to the basement of the building where the culturing was being done to meet Peter's contact, and we discovered that they were rearing a fantastic new species (only seen in London Zoo for a while in England), Heteropteryx dilatata (now PSG 19). I had previously got two consignments of eggs via the Entomological Livestock Group, which had not been successful and here they had 40-50 half grown nymphs all happily feeding on Blackberry! They were quite happy to let us have a few, and we again exchanged some other species we had, and dodging large tropical black and red I think this was when we were in Aachen orb-web spiders hanging from the ceiling (to keep the flies down!) we continued or Dusseldorf, but can't be sure. west towards Aachen. Another night's rest, and in the morning we were on the home run back across Belgium to Zeebrugge for our return ferry, and then on to London.

Additional to that, Pat & I had to drive a further 5 hours back to Cornwall on the Saturday, but we thought it all worthwhile to say "Hello" to a number of new friends and we did come back with some interesting starter cultures.

Pete and I split the material up and managed to get some into stable cultures, but as we have found many times, the Phyllium species have always proven difficult, so in time these again died out, a pity, because, if anyone can find the key to rearing these beautiful species, they would be very popular.

~~December 2004 Newsletter "700.26 Website: www.stickinsect.org.uk PSG ME HAND X SE~~

~~Pens - 40p each + P&P Stickers - 60p each + P&P PENS Car Window Stickers - 60p each + P&P 40D (P&P per order on all the above UK 25p, Overseas - 40p)~~

T SHIRTS STICKERS 60p With the following designs - The size of a CD. Either sticky on front, for use in car windows, or sticky on back for sticking onto things. Oreophoetes peruana PSG No 84 Aretaon asperrimus PSG No 118 Phyllium bioculatum PSG No 10

~~£6.50each + P&P ( UK £1.00, Overseas £1.50) Sizes - large and Xtra-large only (at present)~~

All our PSG merchandise is very good value for money - especially the T Shirts. Yet sales are very slow. Please take a look and consider a Phyllium Aretaon Oreophoetes bioculatum asperrimus peruana PSG purchase. PSG No 10 PSG No 118 No 84 (£6.50) fffi sm fffi sm

~~Please send your order to James Waddicor, 3 Squires Copse, Peatmoor, Swindon, Wiltshire, SN5 5HB. (Cheques made payable to "The Phasmid Study Group") Tel 01793 877617 for more info if required.~~

All these above items will usually also be available at the Summer and the AGM/Winter Meetings, prices as above, but you save on the P&P. Also available at these meetings should be a selection of Stick Insect books, at prices lower than the publishers' prices.

BACK COPIES OF NEWSLETTERS FOR SALE. Back copies of all Newsletters are now available at £2 each, or £1.50 each for copies before September 2001. Prices include postage in UK only. [Overseas members need to contact Paul Brock for details of the postage costs]. Copying will be done in batches within 2 to 3 months, so members need to be patient. The culture list refers out to which Newsletters cover each species.

~~HG tG rO fD t&r~yiC by Justin R. Ola pp.~~

~~I have been scanning through a few old editions of the Newsletter (going back to about 1985!) looking for references to Heteropyteryx and its eggs.~~

I note that there seem to be lots of bits and pieces relating to how difficult it is to get the eggs of this genus to hatch. A common phrase I have seen is "low viability". It seems that this species, although large, produces relatively few eggs both in terms of number and viability. A general rule of thumb in many organisms is that the fewer the eggs produced, the greater their chances of survival, whether due to parental care or some other factor. In the case of Heteropteryx, this idea that they produce proportionally large numbers of low or non• viable eggs does not fit at all. The males are clearly happy to mate with the females and so I believe the majority of eggs will be fertile. It seems more likely that we are not incubating them in the correct way. Has anyone tried a proper trial of different approaches: varying humidity and temperature or substrate?

~~December 2004 Newsletter 100.17 Website: www.stickinsect.org.uk WA2SITS & J)2'^OHE^VlSliGJE:;3~~

~~Do not forget that your spare ova (eggs) should be sent: to our Livestock Co-ordinator, Jan Fletcher. Also, any requests for ova, etc may/ go to Jan too:~~

~~125 Malvern Drive* North Common, Warmley, Bristol, BS30 8UY. Tel: 01179 604917, e-mail: [email protected].~~

SPARE OVA (EGGS). I have a little spare ova of PSG 9, lots of Baculum sp Vietnam, a small amount of PSG 31, & plenty of PSG 118. Then in about four weeks spare ova from PSG 205; 6-8weeks PSG 203, plenty of PSG 227, and some spare Lonchodes rusticus. Ova only, no nymphs, as it is too cold for my liking this time of year to post live sticks. Nick. E-mail:[email protected].

WANTED. Hello, I'm looking for any Haaniella, Eurycantha, Dares/Epidares or Rhapiderus species, and also Heteropteryx dilatata. I have spare nymphs and ova of Sungaya inexpectata, and a limited number of ova of Aretaon asperrimus, Extatosoma tiaratum, Lamponius guerini and Paramenexenus laetus. P&P will be around £1.50, depending on how many sticks you would like, but only cheque or postal order please, not cash as it could go missing in the post. Please contact me at: Tom Low, 17 Markant Close, Bury St. Edmunds, Suffolk, IP32 7LP. Tel: 01284 763995. Sorry, no e-mail at the moment. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

OUR LIVESTOCK COORDINATOR, Janlne Fletcher, advises that she has a surplus of thefollowing ov a (eggs); PS© Nos 1, 0, 14, 15, 44, 73, 101, 118, 144, 145, 173, 174, 181, 183, 195;, 202, 203, 211, 214, 215 221, 224, 234, 235, 237, 240, 242, & 245, EMmwphQftos mmms, DiapArnvdMs giantess, Bseulum magnum,. ImMoAes hatmmi PatapacMymmpMa. spMuw (Laos), S^eptjiQpP,asm9 m ('Thailand),.. Nymphs; PS© NQS 38,165.160,173,181,183,221, & Sseptfoptiasma, sp, (Thailand),,

The following ova were wanted:: PS© Nos, 0, 10,15,18, 21, 23,26, 28, 30, 31, 35,44, 45,48, §8.61, 60, 70, 80, 81, 107, 108, 110, 117, 125, 130, 137, 157,172, 175, 177, 180, 103, 107, 108, 100, 208, & 212, psylliums,, ttaanteMas,

Jan ateo advises that members should not send nymphs to her without: first contacting her, so appropriate arrangements can be madefor thei r arrival. Ova, however, may/ be sent anytime, Jan's contact details are at the top of this page.

~~Does >Vnyonc Want GALS? By sara h Houghton.~~

[OK folks, this is a bit off-topic, but Scary Sarah's GALS are world famous throughout the PSG — who has ever been to a PSG meeting and not been lumbered, oops I mean blessed, with the offer of as many snails as you can carry? Enjoy].

Hello everyone. As you may or may not know, I run The Snail Shelter, and take in unwanted Giant African Land Snails (GALS) from all over the country and try to find them new homes. (See picture of me distributing them in the last newsletter!)

At the time of writing, I have about 750 GALS all looking for new homes, snails with a shell length of roughly 2cm to 7cm long. If you would like to adopt a GALS, I will be at the Phasmid Study Group meeting in January so I can bring them along then. You could come and collect them in person (I live in Somerset, a minute's drive from junction 25 off the M5) or I can post them to you. I post my snails using next day delivery, but at this time of year with the weather getting colder I cannot guarantee a delivery date; I have to post them when the weather is warm enough. I ask for a small donation for the snails to go towards the other snail's upkeep - things like food, compost, cuttlefish and tanks. If you would like them posted to you, the P&P is £4.50. On the other hand, if you have GALS that you need to re-home, I can take them in - again, I do ask for a small donation.

For more information, please visit my website - http://thesnailshelter.bravehost.com or email me at [email protected]. So, anyone for a GALS? Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! PS - to everyone going to London in January - be warned, I will be there!!!!! [Ha ha -1 won't! Editor].

~~December 2004 Newsletter 700.28 Website: www.stickinsect.org.uk Diary Dates~~

~~Newark Entomological Show~~

~~Sunday, 19"1 Decembe 2004, 12am-4pm, Balderton, Newark (off the Al). (Contact for tables or information: Paul Holt, 01636 674723 or 07901 577251).~~

~~Bugs & Beasties Show (date unknown)~~

~~Selby, North Yorkshire (Contact Steve Dye, www.bugsnstuff.co.uk). (Does anyone know more details?)~~

~~West of England Creepy Crawly Show (date etc unknown) (Does anyone know more details?)~~

~~PSG AGM & Winter Meeting~~

~~Saturday, 22 January 2005 - 11.30 am, Palaeontology Demonstration Room, Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London.~~

Spring Entomological (formerly Kettering) Show 10.30 am, Sunday, ? March 2005; Kettering Leisure Village, Kettering, Northants. (Contact Jack Harris, 01455 444792). British Tarantula Society Exhibition 11 am, Sunday,22nd May 2005. Woodgreen High School, Wednesbury, West Midlands. (2 mins from Junction 9 of the M6). (Contact: Ray Hale 01323 489047). [Thanks to PSG member Michael Summerfield for the information.]

~~ELG Spring Fair~~

~~Sunday, ? May 2005. Pattishall Village Hall, Pattishall, Northants.~~

Newark Entomological Show Sunday, ? June, 2005 (and again ? December, 2005), 12am^tpm, Balderton, Newark (off the Al). (Contact for tables or information: Paul Holt, 01636 674723). Green Fair ASSISTANCE. PLEASE. Saturday, ? July 2005, Somerset. (Does anyone know more details?) I try to be of help to our members by including in Diary Dates all the shows PSG Summer Meeting etc I am aware of. But I am very much in need of members' Saturday, ? July 2005 - 11.30 am, Palaeontology Demonstration Room, Natural History Museum, London. assistance to give me details of the shows - dates, venues, etc, please. Invertebrate Day at Colchester Zoo Also, in many cases I give contact details, but I just do not have enough Sunday, TBA August 2005 - Colchester Zoo, Maldon Road, Stanway, Essex. 01206 331292. time to pursue them all for relevant particulars. If any member can assist Lincoln Exotics (formerly: Invert) Show by getting the missing details, and Sunday,? September 2005. Main Hall, North Kesteven Centre, Lincoln. (Just off the A1434, which is passing them to me, it would be off the A46). (Contact Jim Tweadle, 01522 501241, e-mail: [email protected]). much appreciated. Editor. Castle Drogo, AES Bugshow! AESaturdaS Exhibitioy ? Octoben r 2005,1 lanwt.30pm, at Castle Drogo, Devon.. (Does anyone know more details?) Saturday, ? October, 2005, 1 lam. Kempton Park Racecourse, Staines Road, Kempton Park, Sunbury-on Thames, Middlesex. Contact: AES, PO Box 8774, London, SW7; E-mail: [email protected]

~~Please check with the organisers that shows are still on, & at times shown, before setting out - the PSG cannot be responsible for a wasted journey.~~

~~If you attend these or other shows, please send in a review for the Newsletter.~~

~~If you are aware of any additional shows involving phasmids, or other insects, spiders, etc, however big or small the show, please pass the details on to the editor.~~

The Phasmid Study Group is invited to exhibit at some shows. If you would like to help run our stand, please contact the member named, or Paul Jennings, our Exhibitions and Meeting Officer: 89 Brackensdale Avenue, Derby, DE22 4AF, Tel: 01332 343477.

REQUEST FOR ARTICLES. ETC. FOR THE PSG NEWSLETTER /^<\ Please send me your articles, reviews on shows and meetings, wants & exchanges, drawings, photos, phasmid problems, answers to problems, ^""-^Ji^ crosswords, quizzes, puzzles, comments, web site details, etc, etc. Providers of such V submissions are likely to receive a full-colour Newsletter! My details are in each vi© Newsletter - see page 32. Also send me your ideas or comments on the Newsletters. ' Many thanks, Editor.

~~December 2004 Newsletter "700.29 Website: www.stickinsect.org.uk AES Exhibition 2004 By Nick Wadham (Member 358).~~

The AES exhibition is my annual pilgrimage. An insectopian mecca of arthropodical delight, or if you are anything like my wife, the construct of your worst nightmare. "Don't you dare bring anything back with you"! (Kara Wadham 2004). Famous last words eh? She'll come around....

If there are any of you who have not as yet made it to the show, I thought I would take a few snaps for your benefit, just to let you see the vast size and scale of this event. As you can see from this picture, which is just one quarter of the whole location, set at Kempton Park race course, over two floors of roughly the same size.

You will find anything here from professional cages, to school displays, which reminds me, Paul Brock's school had their usual spot, displaying a variety of livestock, and perhaps the most exciting display of mini beast drawings, cards and pictures I have seen. Best of all was the six foot giant praying mantis, constructed from many re-cycled parts, tennis balls for eyes, transTHbent rubberized mesh for the wings, all painted in the most lifelike of colours and markings. The work that went into this is beyond imagination. Sadly I had run out of film, I am sorry not to be able to include a picture here.

~~For the next picture, Adrian continues un-abashed, when the blonde girl rudely declines his generous offer of hissing cockroach sandwich for lunch. (Some people have no taste).~~

The PSG stand was situated on the second floor, and as usual attracted lots of interest, and at one point got quite claustrophobic with all the visitors looking at the display. There were lots of insects to give away, I had had a big clear out so I could make more time for my studies, and arrived with a car full of livestock.

It was here that I had the pleasure of meeting Bob and Madeline Brown, who are old hands at sorting the stand and running the exchange table. They deftly oversaw the distribution of literally hundreds of sticks, species included, PSG 1, 9, 14, 15, 18, 23, 101, 118, 195, 215, & 227. Madeline is absorbed, helping a These are just the few I can remember, as there were far more. member identifv some sticks.

I was lucky to find some Pharnacia cantori nymphs (well that's what they were labelled as, and so far they look as though they are PSG 30), and managed to grab a pair of Ctenomorphodes briareus, and my day was cruelly cut short due to work commitments the following day. I said goodbye and made my way home at the early hour of 2pm. See you next year.

~~December 2004 Newsletter 100.3O Website: www.stickinsect.org.uk PSG ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING~~

~~Saturday, 22nd JANUARY 2005~~

~~PALAEONTOLOGY DEMONSTRATION ROOM, NATURAL HISTORY MUSEUM, CROMWELL ROAD, LONDON, ENGLAND (FREE PUBLIC ENTRY*)~~

~~AGENDA (Some times may be reviewed on the day)~~

~~11.30am- 12.30pm. ARRIVALS & INFORMAL GATHERING:~~

~~Members are encouraged to exchange ideas & experiences,~~

~~Competition contestants register their exhibits and put on display by 12 noon.~~

~~Members can view the Competition entries, displays, and merchandise.~~

~~12.30pm - 1.15pm. ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING:~~

~~1) Chairman's Report (Judith Marshall).~~

~~2) Treasurers/Membership Secretary's Report (Paul Brock).~~

~~3) PSG Newsletter Editor's Report (Mike Smith).~~

~~4) Phasmid Studies Editor's Report (Phil Bragg).~~

~~5) Librarian's Report (David Robinson).~~

~~6) Exhibition & Meeting Officer's Report (Paul Jennings)~~

~~7) Livestock Coordinator's Report (Janine Fletcher).~~

8) Election of Officers & Committee.**

~~9) Date & Venue of Next Meeting.~~

~~10) Any Other Business.~~

~~1.15pm-2.15pm. Lunch*** and viewing of competition entries, displays, and merchandise.~~

~~2.15pm - 2.30pm Results and awards to the winners of the competitions****.~~

~~2.30pm-3.00pm Question and Answer Panel (bring your questions to the experts).~~

~~3.00pm- 3.30pm Illustrated Talk by Robert Bradburne, on Stick Insects from Sabah.~~

~~3.30pm- 4.00pm Livestock Exchange*****, and final viewing of competition entries.~~

~~4.00pm-4.30pm. Further informal gathering, competitors collect their entries.~~

*You are requested to bring this sheet with you to gain access to the meeting room.

**If any member of the Phasmid Study Group wishes to stand for Office, or stand on the Committee, please contact the Chairman, Judith Marshall (address etc in Newsletter), to reach her by Wednesday 5th January 2005.

***The competitions could not be easier, basically just bring along some livestock and/or pictures on the day. There are of course some simple rules (seen elsewhere in this Newsletter) to make things go smoothly.

****Tea, coffee, squash, and biscuits are available, for a voluntary contribution, in the meeting room (courtesy of Judith). Food shops are available in the museum, offering good food at reasonable prices, but there may be queues and there is not much time to purchase them. You are therefore recommended to bring your own lunch.

*****You are reminded to follow the rules as laid down concerning the Livestock Exchange: eg livestock should be given some foodstuff, and their container be clearly labelled with their name & PSG number; the food plant they are being fed on, and your name & PSG number. Please don't forget to check before you leave that all of your livestock has been distributed.

~~December 2004 Newsletter 700.31 Website: www.stickinsect.org.uk NEXT NEWSLETTER (March 2005)~~

~~Please send all contributions to the Editor anytime, but by 15th February for a~~

~~place in the March, 2005 PSG Newsletter (1st February to guarantee a placer-~~

~~Mike Smith, 13 Runnacles Street, Silver End, Witham, Essex, CM8 3QN.~~

~~e-mail: [email protected]. Tel: 01376 584388.~~

I find MS Word as an E-mail attachment, or on floppy disk or CD, easiest to cope with. I also prefer the pictures inserted into an MS Word document. I can however deal with a wide range of other formats - including handwritten (but handwritten articles may be delayed as it takes me much longer to process them).

(Unless the contributor specifically requests otherwise): All contributions to the Newsletter will be deemed to be submitted for use in the PSG Website (and vice versa), the Belgian-Dutch Phasma for translation, the German Arthropoda for translation, and Lukasz Czok's Polish website for translation (www.phasmids.prv.pl).

~~The editor may make minor changes to contributions where deemed necessary.~~

~~THE PSG COMMITTEE~~

CHAIRMAN Judith Marshall To arrange meetings within the NHM. Dept. of Entomology, The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 5BD. (Tel: 020 7942 5610; FAX 020 7942 5229) E-mail: [email protected].

TREASURER/MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY Paul Brock To receive membership applications and renewals, and keep track of PSG finances. "Papillon", 40 Thorndike Road, Slough, Berks. SL2 1SR. (Tel: 01753 579447 Phone after 5pm) E-mail: [email protected].

SECRETARY/PHASMID STUDIES EDITOR Phil Bragg To produce agendas and minutes for PSG meetings, and edit the more technical/scientific articles for Phasmid Studies. 8 The Lane, Awsworth, Nottinghamshire, NG16 2QP. (Tel: 0115 9305010). E-mail: Currently not available on e-mail

~~PSG NEWSLETTER EDITOR Mike Smith To edit general articles for the PSG Newsletter. 13 Runnacles Street, Silver End, Witham, Essex, CM8 3QN. (Tel: 01376 584388). E-mail [email protected].~~

EXHIBITION & MEETINGS OFFICER Paul Jennings (assisted by Paul Taylor) To assist the PSG in having a presence at relevant exhibitions and meetings. 89 Brackensdale Avenue, Derby, DE22 4AF. Tel: 01332 343477.

LIVESTOCK COORDINATOR Janine Fletcher To coordinate between those with surplus livestock and those wanting species. 125 Malvern Drive, North Common, Warmley, Bristol, BS30 8UY. Tel: 01179 604917, E-mail: [email protected].

~~LIBRARIAN David Robinson To keep all relevant information for general reference.~~

~~COMMITTEE MEMBERS Paul Taylor (PSG Website Master) E-mail [email protected]~~

~~Ian Abercrombie~~

~~Kim D'Hulster/Kristien Rabaey (European representatives)~~

~~Cameron Die Konigin (PSG Competition Organiser) Non-committee Member: James Waddicor (Holder & seller of PSG merchandise) 3 Squires Copse, Peatmoor, Swindon, Wiltshire, SN5 5HB. Tel 01793 877617.~~

~~December 2004 Newsletter "700.32 Website: www.stickinsect.org.uk~~