Hostname: page-component-745bb68f8f-cphqk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-02-07T04:46:30.320Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Reproductive performance of the African migratory locust, Locusta migratoria migratorioides (Orthoptera: Acrididae), in a cereal crop environment in South Africa

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

R.E. Price  and
H.D. Brown
R.E. Price
Affiliation:
Plant Protection Research Institute, Pretoria, South Africa
H.D. Brown
Affiliation:
Plant Protection Research Institute, Pretoria, South Africa
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The reproductive performance of the African migratory locust, Locusta migratoria migratorioides (Reiche & Fairmaire), was assessed in a cereal crop environment on the temperate Highveld of South Africa. Of the two principal crops involved on the Highveld, maize realized the highest reproductive potential during summer, wheat was successfully utilized for breeding in spring. The combined effects of food and temperature were the main factors influencing seasonal variation in clutch size. Green food was essential for continued reproduction, oviposition ceased for three to four months during winter when food resources deteriorated and was resumed in spring. Although locust size was shown to decrease significantly in early winter, this did not influence fecundity. The effects of egg resorption, female age and phase on clutch size are outlined. Despite the more adverse climate of the Highveld, the migratory locust realized higher individual natality in the cereal crop environment than that recorded previously and consequently achieved outstanding reproductive success in this alternative habitat.

Type
Research Paper
Information
Bulletin of Entomological Research , Volume 80 , Issue 4 , December 1990 , pp. 465 - 472
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1990

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

Anon. (1988) Climate of South Africa. Climate statistics up to 1984. Weather Bureau 40, 474 pp. Department of Environmental Affairs. Government Printer, Pretoria.Google Scholar
Batten, A. (1966) The course of the last major plague of the African migratory locust, 1928 to 1941. FAO Plant Protection Bulletin 14, 1–16.Google Scholar
Brown, H.D. (1981) Annual report of the Red Locust Control Service for 1980, Pretoria. 25 pp. (unpublished).Google Scholar
Brown, H.D. (1986) New locust problem. Antenna 10, 11–13.Google Scholar
Brown, H.D. (1987) Locusts – a new threat. Research highlights 1987: Plant production. 153–156 pp. Department of Agriculture and Water Supply, Republic of South Africa.Google Scholar
Chapman, R.F. & Robertson, I.A.D. (1958) The egg pods of some tropical grasshoppers. Journal of the Entomological Society of Southern Africa 21, 85–112.Google Scholar
Dirsh, V.M. (1953) Morphometrical studies on phases of the desert locust Schistocerca gregaria (Forsk.). Anti-Locust Bulletin No. 16, 34 pp.Google Scholar
Ewer, D.W. (1977) Two functions of the foam plug of acridid egg pods. Acrida 6, 1–17.Google Scholar
Farrow, R.A. (1974) Comparative plague dynamics of tropical Locusta (Orthoptera: Acrididae). Bulletin of Entomological Research 64, 401–411.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Farrow, R.A. (1975) The African migratory locust in its main outbreak area of the middle Niger: quantitative studies of solitary populations in relation to environmental factors. Locusta No. 11, 198 pp.Google Scholar
Faure, J.C. (1932) The phases of locusts in South Africa. Bulletin of Entomological Research 23, 293–405.Google Scholar
Hamilton, A. (1950) Further studies on the relation of humidity and temperature to the development of two species of African locusts, Locusta migratoria migratorioides (R. & F.), and Schistocerca gregaria (Forsk.). Transactions of the Royal Entomological Society of London 101, 1–58.Google Scholar
Lean, O.B. (1931) On the recent swarming of Locusta migratorioides (R. & F.). Bulletin of Entomological Research 22, 365–378.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lean, O.B. (1936) Locusta migratoria migratorioides (R. & F.): an ecological reconnaissance of the suspected Middle Niger outbreak area. Bulletin of Entomological Research 27, 105–184.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Norris, M.J. (1950) Reproduction in the African migratory locust Locusta migratoria migratorioides (R. & F.) in relation to density and phase. Anti-Locust Bulletin No. 6, 47 pp.Google Scholar
Ohabuike, J.E. (1979) The effects of selected food plants on growth and maturity of Locusta migratoria migratorioides (R. & F.). Zeitschrift für Angewandte Entomologie 88, 245–261.Google Scholar
Phipps, J. (1966) Ovulation and oocyte resorption in Acridoidea (Orthoptera). Proceedings of the Royal Entomological Society of London (A) 41, 78–86.Google Scholar
Popov, G.B. (1959) Ecological studies on oviposition by Locusta migratoria migratorioides (R. & F.) in its outbreak area in the French Sudan. Locusta No. 6, 1–63.Google Scholar
Price, R.E. (1988) Oviposition behaviour by the African migratory locust, Locusta migratoria migratorioides (R. & F.), (Orthoptera: Acrididae) in a cropland environment on the Highveld of South Africa. 146 pp. MSc dissertation, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.Google Scholar
Roonwal, M.L. (1947) On variation in the number of ovarioles and its probable origin in the desert locust, Schistocerca gregaria (Forsk.) (Orthoptera: Acrididae). Records of the Indian Museum 44, 375–384.Google Scholar
Rutherford, M.C. & Westfall, R.H. (1986) Biomes of southern Africa – an objective categorization. Memoirs of the Botanical Survey of South Africa 54, 1–85.Google Scholar
Steedman, A. (Ed.) (1988) Locust handbook. 180 pp. (2nd edition) London, Overseas Development Natural Resources Institute.Google Scholar
Uvarov, B.P. (1966) Grasshoppers and locusts. A handbook of general Acridology. Volume 1. 481 pp., CambridgeUniversity Press for the Anti-Locust Research Centre.Google Scholar