Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-cjp7w Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-26T15:08:27.188Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Changes in the Fat and Protein Content of the African Migratory Locust, Locusta migratoria migratorioides (R. & F.)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

S. P. Cheu
S. P. Cheu
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, University of Cambridge.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The process of build-up of reserve substances in Locusta migratoria migratorioides (R. & F.) is very closely correlated with the feeding activity of the insect. Locusts attain their maximum body weight in the initial period before maturation. In the females there is one minor build-up period after each laying.

As measured by the weight of faeces produced, the gregaria female consumes more food than the solitaria during development. It also has a lower rate of increase in body weight, maturation and oviposition.

Locusts start to build up fat soon after the final ecdysis. The fat content reaches its maximum in the early part of adult life, and then begins to decline in both sexes of both phases.

By far the greater part of the fat reserve thus built up in the gregaria female is used up before oviposition, and only a small amount goes to the making of the first egg-pod. The fat of the subsequent egg-pods (of both phases) is derived from the fat built up each time after a new egg-pod is laid.

The solitaria females may mature their eggs at various stages in the development of the fat body. Those which have a longer pre-maturation period have a higher fat content.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Bulletin of Entomological Research , Volume 43 , Issue 1 , March 1952 , pp. 101 - 109
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1952

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

Chauvin, R. (1941). Contribution à l'étude physiologique du criquet pèlerin et du déterminisme des phénomènes grégaires.—Ann. Soc. ent. Fr., 110, pp. 133–272.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Matthée, J. J. (1945). Biochemical differences between the solitary and gregarious phases of locusts and Noctuids.—Bull. ent. Res., 36, pp. 343–371.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Millot, J. & Fontaine, M. (1938). Le taux de chitine chez Schistocerca gregaria.—Bull. Soc. zool. Fr., 63, pp. 123–124.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, 48 pp.Google Scholar
Pfeiffer, I. W. (1945). Effect of the corpora allata on the metabolism of adult female grasshoppers.—J. exp. Zool., 99, pp. 183–233.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Phipps, J. (1950). The maturation of the ovaries and the relation between weight and maturity in Locusta migratoria migratorioides (R. & F.).—Bull. ent. Res., 40, pp 539–557.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Uvarov, B. P. (1948). Recent advances in acridology: anatomy and physiology of Acrididae.—Trans. ent.Soc. Lond., 99, pp. 1–75; Anti-Locust Bull., no.1, 75 pp.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Webley, D. P. (1951). Blood-cell counts in the African Migratory Locust (Locusta migratoria migratorioides Reiche & Fairmaire).—Proc. R. ent. Soc. Lond., (A) 26, pp. 25–37.Google Scholar
Weis-Fogh, T. (1950). An aerodynamic sense organ in locusts.—Proc. 8th int. Congr. Ent.,Stockholm1948, pp 584–588.Google Scholar