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Vol. 105,No. 3, May& June, 1994 187 SOCIETY MEETING OF FEBRUARY 23, 1994 APTERYGOTAAND SYMPHYLA RobertT.Allen DepartmentofEntomologyand Applied Ecology, UniversityofDelaware The "Apterygota" orders remain a mystery for mostentomologists. These organisms are usuallyignored,oronlybrieflycoveredinintroductoryclassificationcourses.Theyare usuallyminuteandcrypticinthesoil,andthereforerarelynoticedinthefield.Infact,there hasbeenalong-runningdebatewhethersomeofthesegroupsaretrulyinsects,with major reference works,like TheInsectsofAustralia (2nded.) comingdown firmlyon the side of excludingthe Protura,Collembolaand Diplurafromthe ClassInsecta.Soitwaswithgreat interestthattheSocietymembershipheard moreabouttheseenigmaticorganismsandthe Symphyla fromawonderful,entertainingspeaker. Dr. R.Tommy Allen. Howdoesoneembark on acareerstudyingthese groups? Like most ofusstudyinga particulargroup. Dr. Allen'sinterestwasamixtureofchance,curiosityandthe realization that these organismscould provide answerstobroad questionsinbiology. In fact, Allen's study ofthese groups the past few years is a great departure from his previous 25 years studying carabid systematics. Starting with a donated collection of Protura from Dr. T. Copeland,Dr. Allen hasaugmenteditwithhisown fieldworkindiverseplacesaroundthe world, includinga recent trip to Chile. Although Berlese funnels are best forCollembola and Protura, hand collecting is best for Diplura and involves rolling rocks along stream banks,examiningrottenlogs,and,inaridareasinChile,digginginsoil uptoameterdeep. Specimenscan be studied bythe usual means fromslide mounts,but alsoby newermeth- ods such as scanning electron microscopy, video imaging and molecular techniques. For SEM example, he illustrated the multitude of morphological characters by photographs, the behaviorofacampodeid dipluran by a 30 minute video and mentioned his molecular sequencing collaboration with Ward Wheeler of the American Museum of Natural History. Althoughthe numberofdescribedspeciesinthesegroupsissmall,Allenbelievesthat the number of undescribed species is great, with, for example, only one-tenth of the Protura (-400 spp.), and one-half of the Diplura (-1000 spp.) known presently. And although the groups are nearly cosmopolitan, they do exhibit interesting biogeographic patternswhich Allensurmisesmightbeareflectionofsomeofthe Earth'searlyhistory. In pursuit of these questions, he has derived a phytogeny for the families of Diplura, with some families and subfamilies showing intriguing restricted distributions in places like Tonga. Within the Japygidae, many genera have restricted geographic distributions and absences,while the Campodeidaegeneraare mostlywidelydistributed. Questionsregard- ing the historical biogeography of these apparently low-dispersing organisms and the apparent lack ofspeciation in the face oflongisolation (asparticularlyexemplified in the Symphyla) areimportantonesthat Allen hopestoanswerin hisfuture work. Themeetingalsoincludedseveral notesofentomologicalinterest. PaulSchaefermen- tioned his research into the "tussocks" or hair groupings of tussock moth caterpillars (Lepidoptera: Lymantriidae) includinggypsy moths. He foundagland located undereach tussockandsuggeststhatthelonghairsmayactasabrushtocarrythesecretionawayfrom the caterpillar. Field Day isset forOctober 1 this yearat Fair Hill, Maryland. Sue Frank displayedaclock incorporatingcicada wingswhich wasmadebya local artisan. About22 membersand theirguestsattended the meeting. Jon K. Gelhaus CorrespondingSecretary