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 and by reference to changes made in the 2005 book of the same title by Otte & Brock.  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, 2 Greenways Road, Brockenhurst SO42 7RN, 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 dataset for a specific taxonomic group within Polyneoptera, a separate species file could be created for this group. Hyperlinks between your hierarchy and any other species file hierarchy are easily specified which allow users to navigate between related groups.
• 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 in amounts that vary from year to year.  The Orthoptera Species File Committee is responsible for determining the recipients of such funds.  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 at the outset, and later on Ed Baker also assisted.  The home page images are from photographs by Paul Brock.