President's Message
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ISSN 2372-2517 (Online), ISSN 2372-2479 (Print) METALEPTEAMETALEPTEA THE NEWSLETTER OF THE ORTHOPTERISTS’ SOCIETY * Table of Content is now clickable, which will President’s Message take you to a desired page. By MICHAEL SAMWAYS President rthoptera are among [1] PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE the most fascinating of all insects, and so it is [2] SOCIETY NEWS not surprising that we have a society dedi- [2] The 2014 Theodore J. Cohn O cated to them. While Research grants funded O [2] ISSN assigned to Metaleptea! they include the good, the bad and the ugly, they also include the beautiful. [3] REGIONAL REPORTS Among their good attributes is the fact that they can be important com- extinct by the early 1900s. [3] South and Central America by ponents of food webs in terrestrial Among the Orthoptera are some of MARCOS G. LHANO ecosystems. Through frass deposition the most fascinating of all insects. Do [5] East Europe - North and Central as well as through their cadavers upon Asia by MICHAEL G. SERGEEV have a look at the superb picture of death, Orthoptera species are impor- [6] Western Europe by FERNANDO the stunning Lichenenodraculus matti, tant recyclers of nutrients and this de- MONTEALEGRE-Z photographed by Luis Salagaje, on position can sometimes be substantial. [7] Japan by KAORI TSURUI the front cover of the latest Journal The brown locust of southern Africa, of Orthoptera Research (Vol. 22[2]). for example, was estimated in 1984/5 [8] OS GRANT REPORTS Crypsis can indeed be beautiful! to have deposited 2.26 million tonnes Perhaps not so cryptic is the amazing of frass, representing 14,700 tonnes [8] Dual-Purpose Armaments in purple, pink, yellow, black and green Pristoceuthophilus of nitrogen. Interestingly, had this ni- Pardalota reimeri photographed by Camel Crickets by LAUREN CONROY trogen been tied up in sheep faeces, it the Orthopterist Society’s webmas- [9] Vibrational Communication in would not have been nearly so readily ter and master photographer Piotr the New Zealand Cook Strait Giant available to plants as through locust Naskrecki in Mozambique. Piotr has Weta (Deinacrida rugosa) by frass because the sheep faeces simply ASHLEY P. SCHMIDT described this species as the ‘Holy dry out on the land surface. [12] Effect of anthropogenic noise Grail for katydid aficionados’, hav- Intriguingly, each land mass has its on the communication of ing not been seen (until now) since it one or, at most, a few, species that Oecanthus tree crickets by LAUREL was described in 1911. Do also have swarm to become outbreak species, B. SYMES & ROBIN A. COSTELLO a look at Piotr’s TheSmallerMajor- impacting on agriculture…why not ity blog (http://thesmallermajority. more species? The Guinness Book [13] CONTRIBUTED ARTICLE com/2014/02/18/mozambique-diary- of Records lists the Rocky Mountain pardalota/) for more! [13] Liladownsia fraile: the rest of locust (Melanoplus spretus) as the This is the advantage of being a the story by DEREK A. WOLLER greatest concentration of any animal member of the Orthopterists’ Society when it passed over Nebraska in the - it keeps you in touch with a whole [16] EDITORIAL U.S.A. on 15-25 August 1875 with world hidden in plain view… a swarm estimated to cover 514,374 km2 and containing 12.5 trillion indi- viduals weighing a total of 25 mil- lion tonnes. Saliently, for the current biodiversity crisis, this species was Volume 34 (2) / May 2014 1 METALEPTEA The 2014 Theodore J. Cohn Research Grants Funded By MICHEL LECOQ Chair, Theodore J. Cohn Research Fund Committee his year the Committee The following grants (in alphabeti- • Elizabeth Swanger (USA) - The received 15 grant appli- cal order) were made in amounts from role of juvenile hormone in female cations originating from USD $700 to $1,000 (for a total of responses to male sexual signals. eight countries (Algeria, USD $5,733): Argentina, Australia, Congratulations to all the successful TT Bolivia, China, France, • Marianna Anichini (Germany) - To applicants, and on behalf of the Com- Germany, United States). A lot of be “Pavarotti” in a crowded concert mittee, our best wishes for the full fascinating proposals were sent in hall? Song competition between bush success of their work. They will, of covering a good range of topics from cricket males in natural choruses. course, have to present a short report faunistic and systematic to ecology, • Tom Chen (USA) - Sex or Death: on their results for our newsletter ethology, and physiology. Many Behavioral syndrome of a field cricket Metaleptea. groups of orthopteroids were repre- (Gryllus sp.) as a function for parasit- For candidates who have were not sented : Mantidae, Acrididae, Gryl- oid avoidance. selected, I want to thank them for lidae, Pamphagidae, Romaleidae, etc. • Morgan DePerno (USA) - Vibration- their confidence in the Orthopter- Projects were submitted by under- al communication in the Mahoenui ists’ Society and for their efforts of graduate or graduate students as well giant weta (Deinacrida mahoenui). presentation and formulation of their as from a young postdoc and it was • Kristopher Keane (USA) - Raw research projects. Their work was also not easy to select the projects to be materials of sexual selection: Signal greatly appreciated by the Commit- funded. After a very carefull exami- variation in a rare, lekking cricket. tee and it is really encouraging to see nation, the Committee, comprised • Ricardo Mariño-Pérez (USA) - On such activity taking place across the of David Hunter (Australia), Battal the origin of the New World Pyrgo- world... unfortunately, our funds are Ciplak (Turkey), and myself, finally morphidae. limited and we had to choose. I invite decided to approve 6 proposals. them to submit further proposals at the next call (probably in early 2015). ISSN assigned to Metaleptea By HOJUN SONG Editor, Metaleptea he International Standard is used in libraries in multiple ways, “When faced with the task of Serial Number (ISSN) including searching databases, iden- naming the Newsletter, the edi- is a unique identifica- tifying titles, ordering (especially in tors laboriously sought out some tion number for serials. electronic order systems), check-in, aspect of New World Acridology that Metaleptea has been and claiming of serials. For our mem- would be symbolic of the goals of our society. To these ends, the name continuously published bers, this means that by publishing TT Metaleptea was chosen from a host since 1978, but the journal has never in Metaleptea you can reach a much of suggestions. One species of the had a formal ISSN assigned until now. larger audience. For our Society, this genus Metaleptea is found distrib- I am pleased to inform our members is an important step forward. uted from Canada southward all the that Metaleptea now has its own ISSN Thinking about this new change way through Chile, encompassing number (2372-2517 for online ver- to our newsletter, I looked through a major portion of the New World. sion and 2372-2479 for print version, some of the older issues of Metalep- What better symbolism of the PAAS located on the upper-right corner of tea. From the very first issue of the and its unifying purpose than the the cover page). newsletter published in the summer of animals shared by all New World So, what are the benefits of the 1978, at that time of the Pan Ameri- Acridologists!” ISSN? According to the U.S. ISSN can Acridological Society (PAAS), I Center within the Library of Con- discovered how our newsletter came Now, 36 years later, the Society has gress, the ISSN results in accurate to be called Metaleptea, which I re- evolved into a global group, but the citing of serials by scholars, research- produce here. spirit of the founders still lives on. ers, abstracters, and librarians and it Volume 34 (2) / May 2014 2 METALEPTEA Regional Reports - What’s happening around the world? Brazil”, by Dr. Carlos Frankl Sperber South and Central (UFV – MG) America 2. “Taxonomic descriptions in Orthop- tera: carry out the role to clear the way By MARCOS G. LHANO for future researchers”, by Dr. Francisco Universidade Federal do Recôncavo da Bahia (UFRB) de Assis Ganeo de Mello (UNESP – SP) Centro de Ciências Agrárias 3. “To inventory the diversity of grass- Ambientais e Biológicas (CCAAB) hoppers (Orthoptera, Acridoidea): Bahia, Brazil where we are and where we want ast February, during the to go”, by Dr. Maria Kátia Matiotti da 30th Brazilian Congress of Costa (PUCRS – RS) Zoology, at the Pontifícia 4. “Unraveling the genital complex- Universidade Católica ity of grasshoppers”, by Dr. Fernando Campos de Domenico (USP – SP) do Rio Grande do Sul, 5. “Chromosome evolution and ge- associated with the decomposition of the “5th Brazilian Sym- LL nomics in Orthoptera: a story told by pig carcass”, by Rodrigo Gonçalves- posium on Orthoptera” took place. molecular cytogenetics”, by Dr. Diogo Oliveira, Janyra Oliveira-Costa, Marina For this meeting the theme focused Cavalcanti Cabral de Mello (UNESP - de Oliveira Barros & Bruna de Carvalho on was “Brazilian Biota of Orthop- SP) Generoso tera – Challenges and Perspectives.” 6. “Tettigoniidae of Brazil: diversity and 3. “Characterization of Biotopes and The symposium was organized by Dr. distribution”, by Dr. Juliana Chamorro analysis of composition of the species Edison Zefa (Universidade Federal de Rengifo (UFV - MG) of grasshoppers (Orthoptera: Caelifera) at Serra do Cipo, Minas Gerais, Brazil”, Pelotas) and Dr. Maria Kátia Matiotti 7. “Distribution and abundance of by Bruno R. Terra, Marco Antonio A. da Costa (Pontifícia Universidade grasshoppers in Rupestrian Fields in Serra do Cipó, Minas Gerais, Brazil”, by Carneiro & Maria Kátia Matiotti da Católica do Rio Grande do Sul), and Dr. Bruno Rodrigues Terra (UFOP – MG) Costa they made a successful and important 8. “Bioacoustics of crickets: state of the 4.