Marion Stokes Tapes 06-06-1989

Achrioptera maroloko (top) and Achrioptera manga (bottom), two species of giant stick insect recently discovered in Madagascar.

Some specimens found measured as long as 24cm. Shown above are the strikingly-colored males which lose their more naturally-colored camouflage at sexual maturity. This implies that the bright colors are used to attract a mate and possibly to warn predators of their toxicity.

“Progress? by George Meyfarth III and Philip F. Meyfarth Each face is a composite of super-ellipse quadrants with exponents ranging from slightly less than 2 to about 400. The variations in location, size, and shape of the features are controlled by a Gaussian random number generator. The trend toward squareness and conformity in the lower right corner results from predetermined changes in the statistical properties. The mouth expression is correlated with eye position to suggest apprehension in those who see that they themselves are not far from total mechanization. Programmed in FORTRAN and plotted on-line on an IBM 1627 driven by an IBM 1130.”