Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-nmvwc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-04T22:34:20.815Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Observations on the laboratory take-off behaviour of the desert locust, Schistocerca gregaria (Forskål) (Orthoptera: Acrididae)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

M. R. K. Lambert
M. R. K. Lambert
Affiliation:
Centre for Overseas Pest Research, College House, Wrights Lane, London W8 5SJ, UK
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Observations were made on crowded, laboratory-reared. 18–20-day-old males of Schistocerca gregaria (Forsk.) taking off in a wind tunnel. Depending upon the time of day, take-off, which was usually upwind, particularly at higher wind speeds, was related to food availability. Few locusts with full foreguts took off, especially at low air temperatures (20°C), while at high temperatures (35°C), 95% of ones starved for 6 h took off. At 30°C, there was little further increase with starvation for 24–30 h. Females containing large oocytes took off less readily than those with small ones. Take-off was also sometimes initiated by decreases in wind speed and light intensity, and sudden changes in air temperature. A distinct passing shadow stimulated take-off, but not the flickering shadows of other flying locusts. A period of flight immediately beforehand inhibited take-off. The results are discussed in relation to field observations.

Type
Original Articles
Information
Bulletin of Entomological Research , Volume 71 , Issue 3 , September 1981 , pp. 481 - 498
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1981

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

Chapman, R. F. (1957). Observations on the feeding of adults of the red locust (Nomadacris septemfasciata (Serville)).—Br. J. Anim. Behav. 5, 60–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chapman, R. F. (1959). Observations on the flight activity of the red locust, Nomadacris semptemfasciata (Serville).—Behaviour 14, 300–334.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cloudsley-Thompson, J. L. (1977). Diurnal rhythms of locomotory activity in isolated desert locusts (Schistocerca gregaria (Forsk.)).—J. interdiscip. Cycle Res. 8, 27–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ellis, P. E. (1951). The marching behaviour of hoppers of the african migratory locust (Locusta migratoria migratorioides R. & F.) in the laboratory.—Anti-Locust Bull. no. 7, 48 pp.Google Scholar
Gunn, D. L., Perry, F. C., Seymour, W. G., Telford, T. M., Wright, E. N. & Yeo, D. (1948). Behaviour of the desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria Forskal) in Kenya in relation to aircraft spraying.—Anti-Locust Bull. no. 3, 70 pp.Google Scholar
Haskell, P. T., Paskin, M. W. J. & Moorhouse, J. E. (1962). Laboratory observations on factors affecting the movements of hoppers of the desert locust.—J. Insect Physiol. 8, 53–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hunter-Jones, P. (1966). Instructions for rearing and breeding locusts in the laboratory.—12 pp. London, Anti-Locust Research Centre.Google Scholar
Kennedy, J. S. (1939). The behaviour of the desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria (Forsk.)) (Orthopt.) in an outbreak centre.—Trans. R. ent. Soc. Lond. 89, 385–542.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kennedy, J. S. (1951). The migration of the desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria Forsk.). I. The behaviour of swarms. II. A theory of long-range migrations.—Phil. Trans. R. Soc. (B) 235, 163–290.Google Scholar
Kennedy, J. S. (1965). Co-ordination of successive activities in an aphid. Reciprocal effects of settling on flight.—J. exp. Biol. 43, 489–509.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lambert, M. R. K. (1972). Some factors affecting flight in field populations of the Australian plague locust, Chortoicetes terminifera (Walker), in New South Wales.—Anim. Behav. 20, 205–217.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lambert, M. R. K. (1975). The flight behaviour of locusts. Field and laboratory observations on the Australian plague locust Chortoicetes terminifera (Walker), and the desert locust, Schistocerca gregaria (Forskål).—330 pp. Ph.D. thesis, Univ. London.Google Scholar
Osborne, D. J., Carlisle, D. B. & Ellis, P. E. (1968). Protein synthesis in the fat body of the female desert locust, Schistocerca gregaria Forsk., in relation to maturation.—Gen. comp. Endocrinol. 11, 347–354.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pond, C. M. (1971). The mechanism of initiation of the insect flight system.—172 pp. D. Phil, thesis, Univ. Oxford.Google Scholar
Pond, C. M. (1972). The initiation of flight in unrestrained locusts, Schistocerca gregaria.—J. comp. Physiol. 80, 163–178.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Popov, G. B. (1954). Notes on the behaviour of swarms of the desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria Forskål) during oviposition in Iran.—Trans. R. ent. Soc. Lond. 105, 65–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Popov, G. B. (1958). Ecological studies on oviposition by swarms of the desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria Forskål) in eastern Africa.—Anti-Locust Bull. no. 31, 70 pp.Google Scholar
Rainey, R. C, Waloff, Z. & Burnett, G. F. (1957). The behaviour of the red locust (Nomadacris septemfasciata Serville) in relation to the topography, meteorology and vegetation of the Rukwa Rift Valley, Tanganyika.—Anti-Locust Bull. no. 26, 96 pp.Google Scholar
Roffey, J. (1963). Observations on night flight in the desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria Forskål).—Anti-Locust Bull. no. 39, 32 pp.Google Scholar
Rungs, C. (1946). Rapport sur les essais de lutte centre les adultes de Schistocerca gregaria Forsk. au Maroc français, au printemps de 1945.—Bull. semest. Off. natn. anti-acrid. 1945 no. 2, 41–87.Google Scholar
Waloff, Z. (1963). Field studies on solitary and transiens desert locusts in the Red Sea area.—Anti-Locust Bull. no. 40, 93 pp.Google Scholar
Waloff, Z. (1972). Orientation of flying locusts, Schistocerca gregaria (Forsk.), in migrating swarms.—Bull. ent. Res. 62, 1–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waloff, Z. & Rainey, R. C. (1951). Field studies on factors affecting the displacements of desert locust swarms in eastern Africa.—Anti-Locust Bull. no. 9, 1–50.Google Scholar