Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-tf8b9 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-01T01:15:57.686Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Reproductive Capacity of the Larch Sawfly and Some Factors of Concern in its Measurement

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2012

R. J. Heron
Affiliation:
Department of Forestry of Canada, Forest Research Laboratory, Winnipeg, Manitoba

Abstract

Ovarian development and egg production in the larch sawfly, Pristiphora erichsonii (Hartig), were studied in the development of a method for measuring reproductive capacity for population studies. Most of the oöcytes are mature at the time of adult emergence but some mature in the following few days. Quantitative differences in foliage consumption during the larval stages have an appreciable effect on egg production but normal environmental temperature differences and exposure to flooding during the spring development period influence ovarian development only to a limited extent.

Reproductive capacity can be determined by oöcyte counts of dissected adults of uniform age. The sample size necessary for estimates of various degrees of precision was calculated.

Several size measurements have a significant correlation with the numbers of oöcytes produced. The regression of numbers of oöcytes on adult weight is of limited usefulness in the estimation of reproductive capacity. This is largely due to the individual variability in the extent to which fat body tissue is utilized in ovarian development particularly in the case of the larger adults.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Entomological Society of Canada 1966

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

Bevan, D., and Paramonov, A.. 1957. Fecundity of Bupalus piniarius in Britain, 1955. Forestry Commission Report on Forest Research (Great Britain) year ended March 1956: 155162.Google Scholar
Dissescu, G. 1964. Date preliminaire fecunditatii cotarului Operophtera brumata (L.). Rev. Padurilor 79: 187190.Google Scholar
Gervet, J. 1957. Sur la correlation taille-fécondité chez Polistes gallicus L. (Hymen. Vesp.). C.R. Acad. Sci., Paris 245: 108110.Google Scholar
Heron, R. J. 1952. Notes on the feeding of larvae of the larch sawfly, Pristiphora erichsonii (Htg.) (Hymenoptera: Tenthredinidae). 82nd Annu. Rep. ent. Soc. Ont. 1951: 6770.Google Scholar
Heron, R. J. 1955. Studies on the starvation of last-instar larvae of the larch sawfly, Pristiphora erichsonii (Htg.) (Hymenoptera: Tenthredinidae). Canad. Ent. 87: 417427.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johansson, A. S. 1958. Relation of nutrition to endocrine-reproductive functions in the milkweed bug Oncopeltus fasciatus (Dallas) (Heteroptera: Lygaeidae). Nytt Mag. Zool. 7: 1132.Google Scholar
Kasting, R., and McGinnis, A. J., 1962. Quantitative relationship between consumption and excretion of dry matter by larvae of the pale western cutworm Agrotis orthogonia Morr. (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae). Canad. Ent. 94: 441443.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klomp, H. 1964. Intraspecific competition and the regulation of insect numbers. Annu. Rev. Ent. 9: 1740.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lejeune, R. R., Fell, W. H. and Burbidge, D. P.. 1955. The effect of flooding on development and survival of the larch sawfly, Pristiphora erichsonii (Tenthredinidae). Ecology 36: 6370.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Miller, C. A. 1957. A technique for estimating the fecundity of natural populations of the spruce budworm. Canad. J. Zool. 35: 113.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prebble, M. L. 1941. The diapause and related phenomena in Gilpinia polytoma (Hartig). IV. Influence of food and diapause upon reproductive capacity. Canad. J. Res. D, 19: 417436.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reeks, W. A. 1954. An outbreak of the larch sawfly Pristiphora erichsonii (Htg.) (Hymenoptera: Tenthredinidae) in the Maritime Provinces and the role of parasites in its control. Canad. Ent. 86: 471480.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Slama, K. 1964. Physiology of sawfly metamorphosis. 2. Hormonal activity during diapause and development. Acta Soc. ent. Bohem. 61: 210219.Google Scholar
Telfer, W. H. 1965. The mechanism and control of yolk formation. Annu. Rev. Ent. 10: 161184.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Turnock, W. J. 1959. Emergence of the larch sawfly, Pristiphora erichsonii (Htg.) in relation to soil temperature and weather patterns. Ph.D. thesis. University of Minnesota.Google Scholar
Turnock, W. J. 1960. Ecological life-history of the larch sawfly, Pristiphora erichsonii (Htg.) (Hymenoptera: Tenthredinidae), in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Canad. Ent. 92: 500516.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Warren, L. O., and Coyne, J. F.. 1958. The pine sawfly Neodiprion taedae linearis Ross in Arkansas. University of Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station Bull. 602, 23 pp.Google Scholar