Cryptic coloration and choice of escape microhabitats by grasshoppers (Orthoptera: Acrididae)

Cryptic coloration is found in many Orthoptera, especially in Acrididae, showing a great variety of forms. In a grasshopper assemblage in southeastern Brazil, preferences for escape places were detected; grasshoppers tended to escape to backgrounds in which they seem to be more cryptic. Coloration was measured using the Simpson diversity index, to quantify 'aspect diversity' (diversity of colours and shapes of patches along the insect's body). A weak positive correlation was found between grasshoppers' aspect diversity and diversification in use of escape places (use of many backgrounds to escape). Grasshoppers with similar colour patterns tended to use the same structures (leaves, sandy soil, stones) to escape.     

Ecological energetics of Central European grasshoppers (Orthoptera: Acrididae)

Summary Biomass and energy budgets and food utilization efficiencies of laboratory and wild populations of three Central European grasshopper species, Chorthippus parallelus (Zetterstedt), C. biguttulus (L.), and Gomphocerus rufus (L.), were studied between 1979 and 1984. Larval consumption is relatively low in C. biguttulus (C=4.3 kJ/ind.) compared with C. parallelus and G. rufus (4.9 kJ/ind.). In the adult phase (maturity) consumption rates of C. biguttulus and G. rufus (6.9 kJ/ind.) are similar, but higher in C. parallelus (7.3 kJ/ind.). The energy content decreases from the egg (23.2–24.3 J/mg dw) and body tissue (22.1–23.2 J/mg dw) to faeces (16.6–18.1 J/mg dw). The energy contents of faeces differ significantly between the species, indicating different rates of food conversion (on Dactylis glomerata). On average, the assimilation rates are about 30%, slightly lower in G. rufus. Approximate digestibility (A/C) ranges from 28.2 (G. rufus) to 35.7 (C. biguttulus) without great differences between larvae and adults. In contrast, the efficiency of conversion of ingested food (P/C) differs significantly between larval (10–11) and adult stages (3.4–3.6), and so to a much higher degree does the efficiency of conversion of digested food (P/A), from 30.3–33.5 in the larval to 9.5–14.9 in the adult period. Based on 5-year (C. parallelus) and 2-year studies (G. rufus) of the population dynamics and life tables, the energy budgets of wild populations were calculated and summarized into diagrams. Depending on the annually fluctuating densities, in both populations about 1%–2% of net primary production was consumed, and another 5%–9% was cut and dropped. The proportion of production of the grasshopper populations (body tissue) used for egg production differs in C. parallelus (28%) and G. rufus (44%). The energy cycling owing to energy storage in the living eggs amounts to 2%–3% of the total energy consumed by the population. The results are compared with the available data for grasshoppers in the literature.     

Evolution of chromosome number in grasshoppers (Orthoptera: Caelifera: Acrididae)

Organisms Diversity & Evolution - Orthoptera have some of the largest genomes of all insects. At the same time, the architecture of their genomes remains poorly understood. Comparative...     

Behavioral influences on food selection in grasshoppers (Orthoptera: Acrididae)

Host plant selectivity has been established for many species of grasshoppers but the mechanisms involved are not completely known. General undirected activity was enhanced by favorable temperature, humidity and illumination. Positive phototactic responses were elicited by directed illumination, color and visual patterns.Orientation to stimuli from food materials generally took place only after contact had been made with the mouthparts. Discrimination among various extracts and extract concentrations from different plant species was demonstrated.Individual grasshoppers in laboratory experiments with artificial diet arrays selected resting sites independent of food location. In some cases feeding was influenced by resting site location.The feeding behavior of grasshoppers will cause them to remain in areas of favorable host plants through a general type of orthokinesis.

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Zusammenfassung Wirtspflanzen-Wahlvermögen ist bei vielen Feldheuschrecken nachgewiesen worden. Jedoch werden die Eiablage-Orte im allgemeinen nicht mit Rücksicht auf die Verfügbarkeit von Wirtspflanzen für die schlüpfenden Larven gewählt. Diese müssen geeignete Wirtspflanzen unter vielen verfügbaren selbst aussuchen.Innerhalb optimaler Temperatur-und Feuchtigkeitsbereiche wird die allgemeine ungerichtete Aktivität durch genügende Helligkeit verstärkt. Es wurden positive phototaktische Reaktionen zu gerichtetem Licht nachgewiesen. Die Reaktion auf gerichtete Beleuchtung war zwischen 3600 und 4750Å am größten. Wellenlängen ober-und unterhalb davon ergaben geringere Reaktionen.Senkrechte Objekte oder Muster riefen positive Taxien hervor.Olfaktorische Anlockung war sehr begrenzt, aber sobald die Nahrung einmal mit den Mundwerkzeugen in Berührung gekommen war, waren die Heuschrecken sehr wählerisch. Bei verschiedenen Arten wurde die Fähigkeit nachgewiesen, zwischen einer ganzen Reihe von verschiedenen Pflanzenextrakten wählen zu können, die in eine künstliche Trägerdiät eingefügt waren. Unterscheidung zwischen geringen Konzentrationsunterschieden der extrahierten Substanzen war nachweisbar.Zeitraffer-Aufnahmen zeigten, daß die Extraktpräparate in der Reihenfolge ihrer Annehmbarkeit ausgewählt wurden. Gewöhnlich wurde der Fraß auf einige wenige Präparate beschränkt, bis sie völlig verzehrt waren. Erst dann wurden die anderen Präparate in der Reihenfolge ihrer Annehmlichkeit gefressen.Mit Zeitraffer-Aufnahmen wurde das Verhalten einzelner Heuschrecken verfolgt, die zusammen mit Serien von künstlichen Nahrungstabletten mit Pflanzenextrakten gekäfigt worden waren. Es zeigte sich, daß die Heuschrecken Ruheplätze wählen, von denen aus sie sich zum Fressen und Trinken bewegen. Bestimmte Bewegungsmuster waren ausgebildet. Die Lage der Ruheplätze wurde von den anwesenden Nahrungsstoffen nicht beeinflußt, aber in einigen Fällen das Fressen von der Nähe der Ruheplätze.Es wurde angenommen, daß visuelle Reize die Orientierung der Feldheuschrecken unterstützen, aber die Wirtspflanzenwahl findet erst nach Berührung mit den Mundwerkzeugen statt. Feldheuschrecken haben die Gewohnheit, Gebiete, die keine geeigneten Wirtspflanzen enthalten, zu durchqueren und sich auf solchen mit geeigneten Wirten mit Hilfe eines allgemeinen Typs von Orthokinese zu scharen. Da die anziehenderen Pflanzen gewöhnlich auch das größte biologische Potential bieten, werden Verteiling und Dichte der Heuschrecken von der Wirtspflanzenwahl beeinflußt.

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Published with the approval of the Director of the North Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station as journal Article No...... Contribution from North Central Regional Project NC-52.     

Feeding patterns in grasshoppers (Orthoptera: Acrididae): Factors influencing diet specialization

Summary Diets of grasshopper species from two arid grassland communities in Trans-Pecos, Texas, were determined by gut analysis. Species-specific food plant choice and niche breadths are presented for each of these species. As a group, grasshoppers range from monophagous to polyphagous feeders although most species fall in the oligophagous to polyphagous group. Phylogenetic constraints are evident such that gomphocerinae are primarily grass feeders while melanoplinae feed predominantly on forbs; the oedipodinae show less clearcut tendencies.Feeding patterns are remarkably constant from site to site and overall, community niche breadth distributions between sites do not differ greatly. Individual species tend to eat the same plant species at various sites and maintain similar niche breadths. Species with relatively specialized diets tend to feed on predictable plant species such as grasses and long-lived perrenial forbs.Grasshopper feeding patterns present some problems to the current theory of herbivore diet specialization since forb feeding melanoplines tend to be polyphagous (contrary to predictions). Life history patterns unrelated to tracking host plants may explain some aspects of diet breadth since diet selectivities are presumably adjusted according to the probability of finding suitable food plants.     

Action windows for optimum control of rangeland grasshoppers (Orthoptera: Acrididae)

Different assemblages of primary and secondary pest grasshopper species were found in 5 different rangeland plant communities in western North Dakota. The action window for their control (i.e., the interval when control is likely to be efficacious) with short-lived insecticides can be visualized in terms of time, grasshopper phenology, or plant phenology. Action windows ranged from 14 d duration in habitats dominated by western wheatgrass to 38 d duration in habitats dominated by needle-and-thread or by crested wheatgrass. Action windows opened 11-15 d later in rhizominous grass habitats than in bunchgrass habitats because of increased presence of late-hatching secondary pest species. In all habitat types, action windows closed primarily in response to imminent oviposition by a ubiquitous primary pest species, Melanoplus sanguinipes (F.). In all habitat types, action windows tended to open during seed development of 2 common and conspicuous grasses, needle-and-thread and green needlegrass. No such consistent indicator for closure of action windows was detected.     

Dominance effects strengthen premating hybridization barriers between sympatric species of grasshoppers (Acrididae,Orthoptera)

Sexual selection can lead to the rapid evolution of premating hybridization barriers and allows accelerated diversification and speciation within an evolutionary lineage. Especially during early stages of divergence, hybridization may impede further divergence, which strongly depends on the reproductive success of hybrids. Behavioural sterility of hybrids can limit or even prevent homogenizing gene flow. In this study, we investigated the attractiveness of male courtship songs for females of the grasshopper species Chorthippus biguttulus and C. brunneus and their interspecific F1 and F2 hybrids. Song preferences of females of both species are highly species specific and differ in three parameters: shape of the preference function, preference for syllable pattern and phrase duration. F1 hybrid females of both reciprocal crosses as well as F2 hybrid females resembled closely pure C. biguttulus females in respect of shape of the preference function and preference for syllable pattern, while preference for phrase duration showed an intermediate expression. This resulted in song preferences of hybrid females that closely resembled those of one parental species, that is C. biguttulus females. Such strong dominance effects were rarely reported so far. They represent an effective barrier limiting gene flow between the two species, since hybrid females will backcross to only one parental species and discriminate against hybrid males, which are behaviourally sterile. Such taxon‐specific modes of inheritance may have facilitated the rapid divergence of acoustically communicating grasshoppers of the species group of Chorthippus biguttulus. Our findings have novel implications on the expression of neuronal filters and the evolution of complex courtship signals.     

Molecular phylogeny of Palaearctic genera of Gomphocerinae grasshoppers (Orthoptera, Acrididae)

Abstract.  Molecular phylogenetic methods were used to examine morphologically based hypotheses concerning the taxonomic structure and relationships of the grasshopper subfamily Gomphocerinae. Two mitochondrial gene (cytochrome b and cytochrome oxidase subunit I) sequences were determined for twenty-five species representing eleven Palaearctic genera. The studied Gomphocerinae species constituted a monophyletic group; furthermore, the earlier division of Gomphocerinae into tribes was supported, with each tribe monophyletic. There was no support for various systems uniting Stenobothrini and Gomphocerini into one tribe. Two separate clusters were discerned in Gomphocerini and two tribes were distinguished – Gomphocerini (genera Aeropus , Stauroderus , Chorthippus ) and Stenobothrini (genera Omocestus , Stenobothrus ).     

Patterns of diversification in the high Andean Ponderacris grasshoppers (Orthoptera: Acrididae: Melanoplinae)

The Andes, the world's longest mountain chain, harbours great taxonomic and ecological diversity. Despite their young age, the tropical Andes are highly diverse due to recent geological uplift. Speciation either followed the orogeny closely or occurred after the Andean uplift, as a result of subsequent climatic changes. Different scenarios have been proposed to explain the diversification of high Andean taxa. The Melanoplinae grasshopper Ponderacris Ronderos & Cigliano is endemic to the eastern slopes of the Andes of Peru and Bolivia, mostly distributed between 1000 and 4000 m above sea level. Diversification in several montane habitats of Bolivia and Peru allows tests via cladistic analysis of distinct possible geographic modes of speciation. Eight species are recognized, with three described here as new with revised diagnostic morphological characters provided: Ponderacris carlcarbonelli sp.n., P. chulumaniensis sp.n. and P. amboroensis sp.n. Cladistic analyses of 15 species (8 ingroup and 7 outgroup) and 38 morphological characters, under equal and implied weighting, confirm the monophyly of Ponderacris. Characters from the external morphology and colour pattern provided less phylogenetic information than did the male abdominal terminalia and phallic complex. Species distributed in the Peruvian Andes constituted a monophyletic group, whereas those from the Bolivian Andes formed a basal paraphyletic grade. Dispersal–vicariance analysis resulted in one ancestral distribution reconstruction indicating that the most recent common ancestor was distributed in the Lower Montane Yungas of Bolivia. Eleven dispersal and one vicariant events are postulated, with a South‐to‐North speciation pattern coincident with progressive Andean uplift. Vicariance could relate to fragmentation of montane forest during the dry intervals of the late Cenozoic. From the Bolivian area, ancestral Peruvian Ponderacris may have dispersed northward, coinciding with the rise of the Andes. Ten of 11 dispersal events occurred at terminal taxa and are likely to be recent. However, diversification of Ponderacris cannot be explained solely by the South‐to‐North speciation hypothesis, but may also include both vicariance and dispersal across barriers influenced by Pleistocene climatic cycles.     

Antennal sensilla of grasshoppers (Orthoptera: Acrididae) in relation to food preferences and habits

The external structure, i.e. number and distribution of sensillae on male and female antennae of 12 species of grasshoppers belonging to Pamphaginae, Catantopinae, Oedipodinae and Gomphocerinae in the grasslands of Inner Mongolia was investigated using scanning electron microscopy. Five major types of antennal sensillae were detected - trichoid, long basiconic, short basiconic, slender and short basiconic, and coeloconic sensillae. Total number of antennal sensillae varied among different sexes, subfamilies, feeding groups, life forms and eco-forms. Males showed significantly more sensillae than females, due to presence of more short basiconic and coeloconic sensillae. Species under Catantopinae showed more long basiconic sensillae than the others. The Oedipodinae had the highest number of slender and short basiconic sensillae and coeloconic sensillae, followed by Catantopinae and Gomphocerinae; while Pamphaginae had the fewest. The total number of sensillae showed the same trend for these two types amongst the subfamilies as well, species which prefer habits on the ground possessed fewer antennal sensillae than species which prefer to stay on plants. The maximal number of antennal sensillae were observed in hygrophytous species,Chorthippus albomarginatus, in the 12 grasshopper species investigated, although the data is not statistically significant. The general trend which emerged was that species feeding on grass possessed more antennal sensillae, particularly coeloconic sensillae, compared to other feeding group species.     

Insecticidal activity of photoactive dyes to American and migratory grasshoppers (Orthoptera: Acrididae)

Many photoactive dyes are relatively nontoxic to vertebrates despite their insecticidal properties. Several photoactive dyes known to be toxic to some groups of insects were evaluated at various concentrations for toxicity to American and migratory grasshoppers in laboratory and field studies. Rose bengal and phloxine B were effective at inducing mortality of grasshoppers when applied at 2 and 5% to bran bait, though erythrosin B and uranine were ineffective. Partial replacement of phloxine with uranine in dye mixtures resulted in no significant loss of efficacy. Some indication of feeding inhibition was observed at high dye concentrations, so minimum effective dosages, probably 2%, are optimal. Phloxine B and rose bengal appeared to be stable upon exposure to sunlight, and able to withstand at least 24 h of sunlight without significant degradation. Dyes such as phloxine B could be a viable grasshopper control agent for small or medium-sized grasshopper species because mortality can be induced by consumption of a single flake dusted with 5% dye, and yet pose little hazard to vertebrates. Large species such as American grasshopper must consume several flakes before mortality is induced.     

Supernumerary segments in five species of grasshoppers (Orthoptera: Acridoidea)

Supernumerary segments have been observed in five species of grasshoppers: Calliptamus barbarus, Oedipoda fuscocincta, Acrotylus insubricus, Omocestus raymondi and Chorthippus ariasi. In four cases they are located in the S-chromosomes, but in A. insubricus they are carried by the megameric pair (M₉). In C. barbarus and O. fuscocincta we have observed non-homologous association during diplotene between the extra segments and the X-chromosome. The supernumerary segments of these two species are distally located. However, in anaphase-I the unequal bivalents divide reductionally in 30% and 20% of the cells, respectively. Finally, the supernumerary segments of C. barbarus do not produce any effect on mean chiasma frequency, but they decrease significantly the between-cell variance of chiasmata in males carrying them.     

Temporal pattern of resource use and variation in diets of individual grasshoppers (Orthoptera: Acrididae)

Patterns of resource fidelity, switching, and variation in individual diet were examined in the polyphagous grasshopper Taeniopoda equesforaging in experimental cages over an 11-day period. Ten novel dicots were provided in the cages, but grasshoppers fed primarily on kale (Brassica oleraceavar. acephala),lobelia (Lobelia erinus),pansy (Viola x wittrockiana),and dry bermuda grass (Cynodon dactylon).Grasshoppers showed significant fidelity to a single plant within a meal but tended to eat less of the same plant in the next meal and, in the case of pansy, on the next day. Grasshoppers switched nonrandomly, suggesting that compensatory feeding on complementary resources may have occurred. There was no evidence that behavioral interactions among individuals increased switching rate or lowered fidelity. Overall patterns of resource use varied significantly among grasshoppers during the study, despite frequent switching among resources and a significant tendency to aggregate while feeding. All individuals were polyphagous but differed in relative consumption of available plants. The results suggest that individual grasshoppers express different feeding patterns that are consistent over time and that variation in diet among individual observed in the field may be more than simple sampling error.     

我国蝗虫二新种记述 (直翅目：蝗总科)

报道了采自安徽及内蒙古地区的蝗虫二新种：黑翅负蝗Atractomorpha nigripennis sp.nov.及黄足小车蝗Oedaleus cnecososodius sp.nov.。模式标本保存于陕西师范大学动物研究所。     

Reduction of consumption by grasshoppers (Orthoptera: Acrididae) infected with Nosema locustae canning (Microsporida: Nosematidae)

The effect of ingestion of Nosema locustae Canning spores on feeding by grasshoppers was measured in simultaneous laboratory and field experiments. After 21 days, fourth-instar Melanoplus sanguinipes (F.) nymphs, administered spores at the rates of 0, 2.0 × 10⁴, 2.0 × 10⁵, and 2.0 × 10⁶ per grasshopper, showed dry matter consumption of 102, 87, 64, and 26 mg in 48 hr, respectively. Rate of inoculation was a significant factor in suppression of feeding after correction for the effects of developmental stage, sex, and body weight. The quantity of dry matter consumed decreased linearly with increasing rate of spore ingestion. Experiments on 50 caged 1-m² plots on pasture grass yielded similar trends in per capita consumption independent of the effects of mortality. Field consumption per integrated grasshopper-day was 108, 77, 31, and 27 mg dry wt at the four inoculation rates, over 20 days.     

Assortative preferences and discrimination by females against hybrid male song in the grasshoppers Chorthippus brunneus and Chorthippus jacobsi (Orthoptera: Acrididae)

The grasshoppers Chorthippus brunneus and Chorthippus jacobsi are highly differentiated for male mating signals, and form a mosaic hybrid zone in northern Spain. At some sites within this zone, many hybrids are observed. At others, few hybrids are observed. Such bimodal sites may reflect recent contacts between parental genotypes, or local variation in levels of assortative mating or selection against hybrids. Playback of 12 parental and F1 male songs to 296 parental and hybrid females revealed positive assortative preferences in C. brunneus and C. jacobsi females, supporting a direct role of male mating signals in female choice. However, all female genotypic classes showed reduced responsiveness to F1 male songs. Such sexual selection against hybrids is consistent with the narrow cline width observed in the field for song characters relative to morphology. These results have implications for the genetic structure of the hybrid zone and for models of speciation by reinforcement.