Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-09T06:27:49.400Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Effects of Grouping, Pairing, and Mating on the Bionomics of Melanoplus bilituratus (Walker) (Orthoptera: Acrididae)1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2012

P. W. Riegert
Affiliation:
Canada Agriculture Research Station, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

Abstract

Adults of Melanoplus bilituratus (Walker) were reared in the laboratory as groups of pairs, as groups in association with mature and immature males, as single pairs, and as groups of unmated females. Females of grouped pairs produced a larger number of eggs per pod and laid a greater total number of eggs that were more viable and hatched at least one day earlier than those of other groupings. Hatchlings of grouped pairs were more robust, 29% reaching the adult stage, whereas only 12% of nymphs from eggs of single pairs reached adulthood. Eleven per cent of the eggs of unmated females were viable, although only one hatchling lived to become an adult. Females of grouped pairs, of single pairs, and of those that were unmated reached their peak egg production in four, five and seven weeks respectively, after becoming adult. Young females matured three days earlier when mated with old males than when mated with males of their own age.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Entomological Society of Canada 1965

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Albrecht, F. O. 1959. Facteurs internes et fluctuations des effectifs chez Nomadacris septemfasciata (Serv.). Biol. Bull. France Belg. 93: 414458.Google Scholar
Albrecht, F. O., Verdier, M. and Blackith, R. E.. 1958. Determination de la fertilite par l'effet de groupe chez le criquet migrateur (Locusta migratoria migratorioides R. & F.). Biol. Bull. France Belg. 92: 349427.Google Scholar
Anderson, N. L. 1962. Grasshopper-vegetation relationships on Montana grasslands. Ph.D. Thesis, Mont. St. College, Bozeman.Google Scholar
Bishop, D. W. 1962. Sperm motility. Physiol. Rev. 42: 159.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Drake, C. J., Decker, G. C. and Tauber, O. E.. 1945. Observations on oviposition and adult survival of some grasshoppers of economic importance. Iowa St. Coll. J. Sci. 19: 207223.Google Scholar
Highnam, K. C. 1961. The histology of the neurosecretory system of the adult female desert locust, Schistocerca gregaria. Quart. J. micr. Sci. 102: 2738.Google Scholar
Highnam, K. C., and Lusis, O.. 1962. The influence of mature males on the neurosecretory control of ovarian development in the desert locust. Quart. J. micr. Sci. 103: 7383.Google Scholar
Lusis, O. 1963. The histology and histochemistry of development and resorption in the terminal oocytes of the desert locust, Schistocerca gregaria. Quart. J. micr. Sci. 104: 5768.Google Scholar
Norris, M. J. 1950. Reproduction in the African migratory locust (Locusta migratoria migratorioides R. & F.) in relation to density and phase. Anti-Locust Bull. No. 6.Google Scholar
Norris, M. J. 1952. Reproduction in the desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria Forsk.) in relation to density and phase. Anti-Locust Bull. No. 13.Google Scholar
Pickford, R. 1958. Observations on the reproductive potential of Melanoplus bilituratus (Wlk.) (Orthoptera:Acrididae) reared on different food plants in the laboratory. Canad. Ent. 90: 483485.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Riegert, P. W. 1961. Embryological development of a non-diapause form of Melanoplus bilituratus Walker (Orthoptera:Acrididae). Canad. J. Zool. 39: 491494.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Singh, T. 1958. Ovulation and corpus luteum formation in Locusta migratoria migratorioides (Reiche and Fairemaire) and Schistocerca gregaria (Forskal). Trans. R. ent. Soc. Lond. 110: 120.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Uvarov, B. P. 1928. Locusts and Grasshoppers. A handbook for their study and control. The Imp. Bur. Ent. Lond. 352 pp.Google Scholar