Bulletin of Entomological Research (1968) 57, 559-565

D.S. Smith (1968)
Oviposition and fertility and their relation to copulation in Melanoplus sanguinipes (F)
Bulletin of Entomological Research 57 (4), 559-565
Abstract: Laboratory experiments were carried out at 30 ± 1° C, (86 ± 1.8° F) and 45 ± 2% relative humidity in Alberta on oviposition and fertility and their relation to pairing in Melanoplus sanguinipes. Solitary, fertilised females, obtained by confining virgin females with males and removing the latter after pairing, were confined in separate cages. There was no significant difference in the number of fertile eggs produced by the solitary or the control females (kept with males), although the solitary females oviposited for an average of 78.2 days and the control females for 58.2. Solitary females laid more eggs than control females, but the viability of the eggs was significantly lower, 69% for solitary and 87% for control females. Solitary females lived significantly longer, and one oviposited for 140 days. Solitary and control females laid the same number of pods per day, but the number of eggs per pod gradually decreased after the first two months of egg-laying, particularly in the case of the control females, reflecting a decrease with time in the number of functional ovarioles.
(The abstract is excluded from the Creative Commons licence and has been copied from Acridological Abstracts with permission by NRI, Univ. of Greenwich at Medway.)
Link to article at publishers website

Research topic(s) for pests/diseases/weeds:
general biology - morphology - evolution

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Pest and/or beneficial records:

Beneficial	Pest/Disease/Weed	Crop/Product	Country	Quarant.
	Melanoplus sanguinipes		Canada (west)