Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rcrh6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-30T15:03:08.053Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Progress of Nymphal Development in Pest Grasshoppers (Acrididae) of Western Canada1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2012

L. G. Putnam
Affiliation:
Research Station, Canada Department of Agriculture, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

Abstract

Each of the three grasshopper species, Camnula pellucida, Melanoplus bilituratus and M. bivittatus, spent approximately 13, 17, 19, 22 and 29% of total time in nymphal development in the successive five instars. These proportions appeared similar at each of the six rearing temperatures 75, 80, 85, 90, 95 and 100°F. The times required for total nymphal development at these temperatures were 53, 36, 28½, 23½, 18 and 17 days, respectively. It was estimated that, for the grasshoppers to complete nymphal development and attain sexual maturity in time to have a reasonably good chance of successful reproduction, their integrated temperature experience for 12-hour days should be not less than 95°F. Whereas the apparent mid-point of nymphal development in terms of morphogenesis is midway through the third instar in the typical five-instar grasshoppers, the midpoint of time spent at constant temperatures is near the end of the third instar. C. pellucida appears unable to complete nymphal development at a temperature as low as 75°F.; the Melanoplus species, however, can complete development at this temperature, but with reduced survival.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Entomological Society of Canada 1963

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

Andrewartha, H. G., and Birch, L. C.. 1954. The distribution and abundance of animals. University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Handford, R. H. 1961. Developmental patterns of the clear-winged grasshopper at different altitudes and in different years on a sheep range in British Columbia, Canada. Canad. Ent. 93: 665670.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Parker, J. R. 1930. Some effects of temperature and moisture upon Melanoplus mexicanus mexicanus Saussure and Camnula pellucida Scudder (Orthoptera). Montana Agr. Expt. Sta. Bull. 223, 132 pp.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
Pickford, R. 1960. Survival, fecundity, and population growth of Melanoplus bilituratus (Wlk.) (Orthoptera: Acrididae) in relation to date of hatching. Canad. Ent. 92: 110.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shotwell, R. L. 1941. Life histories and habits of some grasshoppers of economic importance in the Great Plains. U.S. Dept. Agric. Tech. Bull. 774, 47 pp.Google Scholar