Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata (1970) 13, 363-376

W.M. Blaney and R.F. Chapman (1970)
The functions of the maxillary palps of Acrididae (Orthoptera)
Entomologia Experimentalis et Applicata 13 (4), 363-376
Abstract: The maxillary palps of Acrididae (Locusta migratoria migratorioides, Schistocerca gregaria and Chorthippus parallelus) make small, irregular flicking movements and more extensive, rapid vibrations described as palpation. Both activities involve the same basic movements of the palp segments. Palpation is essentially related to feeding, and in normally feeding insects the palps play an important role in food selection; as starvation is prolonged they become unimportant. Selection depends on appropriate chemical stimulation from the leaf cuticle. Palpation on a suitable substrate leads to head lowering, and to biting if appropriate tactile stimuli are then received. The frequent, but very brief, contacts of the sensilla on the tips of the palps with the substratum during palpation may enable them to relay information to the central nervous system more or less continuously without adaptation of the response.
(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.
	Schistocerca gregaria
	Locusta migratoria
	Chorthippus parallelus