CHRYSOMELA newsletter Dedicated to information about the Chrysomelidae Report No. 43.2 July 2004 INSIDE THIS ISSUE Fabreries in Fabreland 2- Editor’s Page St. Leon, France 2- In Memoriam—RP 3- In Memoriam—JAW 5- Remembering John Wilcox Statue of 6- Defensive Strategies of two J. H. Fabre Cassidine Larvae. in the garden 7- New Zealand Chrysomelidae of the Fabre 9- Collecting in Sholas Forests Museum, St. 10- Fun With Flea Beetle Feces Leons, France 11- Whither South African Cassidinae Research? 12- Indian Cassidinae Revisited 14- Neochlamisus—Cryptic Speciation? 16- In Memoriam—JGE 16- 17- Fabreries in Fabreland 18- The Duckett Update 18- Chrysomelidists at ESA: 2003 & 2004 Meetings 19- Recent Chrysomelid Literature 21- Email Address List 23- ICE—Phytophaga Symposium 23- Chrysomela Questionnaire See Story page 17 Research Activities and Interests Johan Stenberg (Umeå Univer- Duane McKenna (Harvard Univer- Eduard Petitpierre (Palma de sity, Sweden) Currently working on sity, USA) Currently studying phyloge- Mallorca, Spain) Interested in the cy- coevolutionary interactions between ny, ecological specialization, population togenetics, cytotaxonomy and chromo- the monophagous leaf beetles, Altica structure, and speciation in the genus somal evolution of Palearctic leaf beetles engstroemi and Galerucella tenella, and Cephaloleia. Needs Arescini and especially of chrysomelines. Would like their common host plant Filipendula Cephaloleini in ethanol, especially from to borrow or exchange specimens from ulmaria (meadow sweet) in a Swedish N. Central America and S. America. Western Palearctic areas. Archipelago. Amanda Evans (Harvard University, Maria Lourdes Chamorro-Lacayo Stefano Zoia (Milan, Italy) Inter- USA) Currently working on a phylogeny (University of Minnesota, USA) Cur- ested in Old World Eumolpinae and of Leptinotarsa to study host use evolu- rently a graduate student working on Mediterranean Chrysomelidae (except tion. She also plans to carry out popula- a comparative prothorax morphology Alticinae) and plans a revision of Arima tion-level studies of several Leptinotarsa (with Alex Konstantinov) and a cata- and taxonomic works on the European species. She would like to borrow or logue of the neotropical Cryptocephali- species of the genera Pachnephorus and exchange specimens of Leptinotarsa, Do- nae. Colaspidea. ryphora, and other chrysomelines. continued on page 18 The In Memoriam Editor's Page Renaud Paulian 1913-2003 Caroline Chaboo, (USA) Welcome to CHRYSOMELA 2004! We with the much anticipated Phytophaga The French entomologist, Renaud hope you find this edition as informative, symposium co-ordinated by Catherine Paulian, passed away on August 16 entertaining and useful as previous edi- Duckett and Rolf Oberprieler, presents 2003. tions. Thank you very much to all who an exceptional list of speakers and rich He was primarily a specialist of contributed articles and helped with up- potential for community interaction. laparostict Scarabaeidae and published dating and extending our Since CHRYSOMELA over 350 articles and several books list of readers. Our com- is now posted on the mostly focussed on this topic. He stud- munity has grown to 220 web, there is no limi- ied Chrysomelidae as part of a survey of registered readers (and tation on space, cor- the Fauna of Madagascar. each one will contribute recting scientific or Paulianʼs career began in 1937 at an article in the future!). grammatical errors, or the Paris Museum where he was a favor- This is an exciting considering serious edi- ite student of René Jeannel. His early period in chrysomelid torial objections. If you works were co-published with Julian research – not only have strong objections, Huxley (in English), then he focussed on have many articles been please send an email, beetles, writing primarily in French. In published since the last and we can revise the 1947, he served as Deputy Director of edition, but several web-version. I look the Institut de Recherche Scientifique de books have appeared. forward to your feed- Madagascar. During this period he built Single-authored books back and suggestions a tremendous collection of Chrysome- by Mohamedsaid and for improvements, as lidae housed in the Malagasy Institute Warchałowski, edited well as your articles. in Antanarivo. Afterwards, he served volumes by Furth and Jolivet et al., As this edition is my first, I am espe- as Director of the Institut Scientifique and catalogs by Riley et al. and Clark cially grateful to my predecessor, Terry de Congo-Brazzaville and head of the et al. span a broad range of topics in N. Seeno, for his unwavering support, local University, then as head of the Chrysomelidae and greatly lift the attention to numerous questions, and University of dʼAbidjan, Ivory Coast. level of scholarship in our field. This ghost-editing this volume. After strug- He returned to France in 1969 as Recteur year is also punctuated by some ex- gling through InDesign and PageMaker, of the Academy of Amien, and finally as citing meetings and we look forward new programs for me, I certainly have Recteur of the Academy of Bordeaux. to complete reports in the next edi- a better appreciation of his dedication, —Pierre Jolivet tion. The upcoming ICE congress, patience and service to our community. June 2004 "Man, is this house heavy!" Neochlamisus larva with fecal case. Want to know more? Turn to pages 14 & 15. The Newsletter CHRYSOMELA–Founded 1979– is published semiannually, usually in June and December by the American Museum of Natural History, Division of Invertebrate Zoology, Central Park West @ 79th St., New York, NY 10024. E-mail: [email protected]; telephone: (212) 769-5616. This newsletter is sent to students of the Chrysomelidae to encourage the exchange of ideas and to disseminate information on these insects. Editor: Caroline Chaboo, New York. Advisors: Brian D. Farrell, Cambridge; Dave Furth, Washington; R. Wills Flowers, Tallahassee; Elizabeth Grobbelaar, Pretoria; Pierre Jolivet, Paris; Alex Konstantinov, Washington; Chris Reid, Sydney; Ed Riley, College Station; Al Samuelson, Honolulu and Terry N. Seeno, Sacramento. 2 CHRYSOMELA 43, July 2004 In Memoriam John Avery Wilcox August 24, 1921 — September 18, 2003 John completes a habitus illustration of Malacorhinus in 1951 while working at the New York State Museum in Albany. John was a native of Ohio, born in LaGrange (Lorain tum (1970-1976), and was Coordinator (as well as a member) County) where he attended elementary and high school (1927- of the Advisory Board of the North American Beetle Fauna 1939). After his high school graduation, he was enrolled in the Project (1973-1977). biology program at Ohio Northern University in Ada (1939- On November 22, 1947, he married Virginia (Ginny) 1941) and then transferred to Ohio State University where Stevenson, who would be his wife for nearly 56 years until his he studied until June of 1942. At that time, he entered the U. death. John and Virginia had two sons, Keith and Bruce, and S. Army where he served in a heavy artillery combat unit in both have been honored with chrysomelid generic names: Bru- Germany (1942-1945). cita Wilcox, 1965, and Keitheatus Wilcox, 1965. The name When the war ended, he returned to OSU. He received Paria virginiae Wilcox, 1957, honors Ginny. both his Bachelor and Masters degrees in entomology, with In 1975 John developed cancer, prompting him to retire additional studies in genetics (1946-1950). During these uni- from the Albany State Museum and seek employment in what versity years, he worked as an assistant in the insect taxonomy he considered to be a healthier climate. From 1976 to 1977 he section of the Ohio Insect Survey and as a graduate assistant in was a teacher and lecturer on the natural history of the Cedar the OSU Genetics Department (1946-1948). John developed Bog area in Ohio. Afterwards, he served a number of years as his initial interest in Chrysomelidae during these years. an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Entomology Following graduation from OSU, John took the position at Ohio State University. as Curator of Entomology and Senior Scientist for the New From 1975 until the time of his death, John was plagued York State Museum and Science Service in Albany (1950- with a number of physical problems. He rarely, if ever, 1976). This position afforded him the opportunity to focus complained about these problems and maintained an up-beat more intensely on the leaf beetles. During the following attitude until he finally passed away from heart failure at 7pm years, John published numerous papers on Chrysomelidae (see on September 18, 2003. below). Perhaps his most important contributions were on his Johnʼs enthusiasm for leaf beetles was contagious. Many favorite group, the Galerucinae s. str. These works include his North American chrysomelid workers, as well as a few from Synopsis of North American Galerucinae (1965) and the Cole- overseas, studied under him. He was a pleasure to work with opterorum Catalogus Supplementum treating the Galerucinae and will be greatly missed by his family and friends. He is (1971, 1972, 1973 & 1975). survived by his wife Virginia and two sons, Bruce and Keith. During his years at the Albany museum, he was appointed Terry N. Seeno, Sacramento Director of the Outdoor Education Heldeberg Workshop in Shawn M. Clark, Provo Voorheesville, NY where he developed a childrenʼs outdoor Edward G. Riley, College Station education program (1969-1972). Additionally, he held the position as Editor of the Coleopterorum Catalogus Supplemen- May 15, 2004 3 CHRYSOMELA 43, July 2004 Publications by John A. Wilcox 1951. A new species and new genus of Galerucinae (Chryso- Coleoptera: Galerucinae, fasc. 1, pp. 1-220. W. Junk melidae: Coleoptera). Ohio J. Sci., 51:90-94. N.V., The Hague, The Netherlands. 1953. New species of Galerucinae and Alticinae with notes on 1972. Coleopterorum Catalogus supplementa, pars 78, other species (Coleoptera: Chrysomelidae). Ohio J. Sci., Coleoptera: Galerucinae, fasc. 2, pp. 221-431. W. Junk 53:51-58.