This website and the underlying database were prepared in cooperation with the Orthopterists'
Society. The decision to proceed in this manner was deliberate for two reasons:
to provide continuity, and because of the magnitude of the job. The database should
be a growing and evolving thing that continues past the careers of those who have
responsibility for it from time to time. This database was inputted by David
Eades and his team, from Daniel Otte and Paul Brock's 2003 CD entitled Phasmida
Species File: A Catalog of the Stick and Leaf Insects of the World.
It has been subsequently updated by Paul, who will continue to main it. Someday
Paul Brock will relinquish the responsibility, and it will be up to a committee
of the Orthopterists' Society to select a successor. In addition to the matter
of continuity, it seems clear the tasks of maintaining the site and updating the
database to keep it current are too much for any single person.
Members of the Orthopterists' Society are invited to participate in making this
website and database better. Participation can be at various levels:
- Communicate comments, suggestions and corrections to Paul Brock
(send mail).
- Send reprints to Paul Brock, 40 Thorndike, Slough SL2 1SR, U.K. or c/o George Beccaloni,
The Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London SW7 53D, U.K. Reprints received
will be given priority for incorporation of data into the database.
- Submit images for inclusion in the database. The source will be acknowledged
when users view the images.
- Be the expert for a group that is of particular interest to you. Experts are
listed in the lower part of the home page. Responsibilities are:
- Once a year review the information shown for the group and note any problems.
- Either edit the database over the Internet to fix any problems, or else communicate
the problems to Paul Brock, who will fix them. Changes to the database should
conform to the editorial policy.
- Receive and respond to email about the group. (This refers to technical communications;
it does not include assistance for school reports.)
- If you have your own database, you may want to use the "TaxonNameID."
This is an identification number used in this database that will remain with each
taxon regardless of where that taxon is shifted in the hierarchy in the future.
It can be used to facilitate hyperlinks between databases and to update databases
for changes in nomenclature.
- Develop new types of information. There are many useful ways the project could
be expanded. This final level of participation requires some knowledge of
computer programming and a serious time commitment. Contact David Eades if
you are interested. It is envisaged that David Eades
(send mail) will periodically supply upgrades for the Phasmida Species
File.
The Orthopterists' Society has funds available for support of database work.
The Orthoptera Database Committee is able to make grants totalling about US$35,000
per year. Committee members are:
- Maria Marta Cigliano (send mail),
Division Entomologia, Museo de la Plata, Paseo del Bosque S/N, 1900 La Plata, Argentina
- Ted Cohn (send mail), Museum of
Zoology, University of Michigan, 1109 Geddes Ave., Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA
- David Eades (send mail), Illinois
Natural History Survey, 1816 S. Oak Street, Champaign, IL 61820, USA
- Sigfrid Ingrisch (send mail), Zoologisches
Forschungsinstitut und Museum Alexander Koenig, Adenauerallee 160, D-53113 Bonn,
Germany
- Michel Lecoq (send mail), CIRAD,
Département amis Acridologie opérationnelle (Prifas), TA40/D, Campus International
de Baillarguet, 34398 Montpellier Cedex 5, France
- Piotr Naskrecki (send mail), Museum
of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University, 26 Oxford Street, Cambridge, MA 02138,
USA
- Daniel Otte (send mail), Academy
of Natural Sciences, 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, PA 19103, USA
- David Rentz (send mail), CSIRO,
Division of Entomology, Canberra, Australia
- Hugh Rowell (send mail), Chalet
Oreïna, 3961 Ayer, Switzerland
Committee members are appointed by the President of the Orthopterists' Society.
The responsibilities of the committee are:
- To advise on design of database and priorities for tasks
- To grant awards from the endowment (currently about US$35,000 each year)
- To review proposed changes to higher ranks within the database. This has been
proposed, but there is no current consensus that this should be a committee responsibility.
Acknowledgments
In addition to those listed on the home page, Marilyn Beckman, Richard Flood, and
Elizabeth Frank have given invaluable assistance in the conversion process. Paul
Pestille and Leanne Wall contributed some of their time to enter various data. The home
page images are from photographs by Paul Brock.
