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Current Opinion in Insect Science Dec 2018Micro-Electro Mechanical System (MEMS) microphones inspired by the remarkable phonotactic capability of Ormia ochracea offer the promise of microscale directional... (Review)
Review
Micro-Electro Mechanical System (MEMS) microphones inspired by the remarkable phonotactic capability of Ormia ochracea offer the promise of microscale directional microphones with a greatly reduced need for post-processing of signals. Gravid O. ochracea females can locate their host cricket's 5 kHz mating calls to an accuracy of less than 2° despite having a distance of approximately 500 μm between the ears. MEMS devices base on the principles of operation of O. ochracea's hearing system have been well studied, however commercial implementation has proven challenging due to the system's reliance on carefully tailored ratios of stiffness and damping, which are difficult to realize in standard MEMS fabrication processes, necessitating a trade-off between wide-band operation and sensitivity. A survey of the variety of strategies that have been followed to address these inherent challenges is presented.
Topics: Acoustics; Animals; Auditory Perception; Diptera; Host-Parasite Interactions; Microtechnology; Orthoptera
PubMed: 30553482
DOI: 10.1016/j.cois.2018.09.002 -
The Lancet. Microbe Jul 2022
Topics: Animals; COVID-19; Fungal Proteins; Orthoptera; SARS-CoV-2
PubMed: 35779561
DOI: 10.1016/S2666-5247(22)00161-6 -
Current Opinion in Insect Science Apr 2023Locusts are among the most feared agricultural pests. Spatiotemporal forecasting is a key process in their management. The present review aims to 1) set a common... (Review)
Review
Locusts are among the most feared agricultural pests. Spatiotemporal forecasting is a key process in their management. The present review aims to 1) set a common language on the subject, 2) evaluate the current methodologies, and 3) identify opportunities to improve forecasting tools. Forecasts can be used to provide reliable predictions on locust presence, reproduction events, gregarization areas, population outbreaks, and potential impacts on agriculture. Statistical approaches are used for the first four objectives, whereas mechanistic approaches are used for the latter. We advocate 1) to build reliable and reproducible spatiotemporal forecasting systems for the impacts on agriculture, 2) to turn scientific studies into operational forecasting systems, and 3) to evaluate the performance of these systems.
Topics: Animals; Grasshoppers; Forecasting; Agriculture
PubMed: 36958588
DOI: 10.1016/j.cois.2023.101024 -
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal... Mar 2022Aposematic coloration is among the most diverse antipredator strategies, which can signal unpleasantness of organisms to potential predators and reduce the probability...
Aposematic coloration is among the most diverse antipredator strategies, which can signal unpleasantness of organisms to potential predators and reduce the probability of predation. Unlike mimesis, aposematic coloration allows organisms to warn their predators away by conspicuous and recognizable colour patterns. However, aposematism has been a regular puzzle, especially as the long-term history of such traits is obscured by an insufficient fossil record. Here, we report the discovery of aposematic coloration in an orthopteran nymph from Mid-Cretaceous Kachin amber (99 million years old). It is attributed to the extinct family Elcanidae and erected as a new genus identified by conspicuous dark/light-striped coloration, four apical spurs on the metatibia, a two-segmented metatarsus and unsegmented stylus. It represents the first fossil orthopteran preserved with aposematic coloration from the Mesozoic, demonstrating that orthopterans had evolved aposematism by the Mid-Cretaceous. Our findings provide novel insights into the early evolution of anti-predator strategies among orthopterans. Together with mimesis, debris-carrying camouflage and aposematism previously reported, our findings demonstrate the relative complexity of prey-predator interactions in the Mesozoic, especially in the Mid-Cretaceous Kachin amber forest. This article is part of the theme issue 'The impact of Chinese palaeontology on evolutionary research'.
Topics: Amber; Animals; Biological Mimicry; Fossils; Orthoptera; Paleontology; Predatory Behavior
PubMed: 35124999
DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2021.0039 -
Annual Review of Neuroscience Jul 2019Across the animal kingdom, social interactions rely on sound production and perception. From simple cricket chirps to more elaborate bird songs, animals go to great... (Review)
Review
Across the animal kingdom, social interactions rely on sound production and perception. From simple cricket chirps to more elaborate bird songs, animals go to great lengths to communicate information critical for reproduction and survival via acoustic signals. Insects produce a wide array of songs to attract a mate, and the intended receivers must differentiate these calls from competing sounds, analyze the quality of the sender from spectrotemporal signal properties, and then determine how to react. Insects use numerically simple nervous systems to analyze and respond to courtship songs, making them ideal model systems for uncovering the neural mechanisms underlying acoustic pattern recognition. We highlight here how the combination of behavioral studies and neural recordings in three groups of insects-crickets, grasshoppers, and fruit flies-reveals common strategies for extracting ethologically relevant information from acoustic patterns and how these findings might translate to other systems.
Topics: Animal Structures; Animals; Courtship; Drosophila; Female; Forecasting; Grasshoppers; Gryllidae; Insecta; Male; Mating Preference, Animal; Pattern Recognition, Physiological; Sense Organs; Sexual Behavior, Animal; Species Specificity; Temperature; Time Factors; Vocalization, Animal
PubMed: 30786225
DOI: 10.1146/annurev-neuro-080317-061839 -
The Journal of Experimental Biology Jan 2015Insects are one of the most successful classes on Earth, reflected in an enormous species richness and diversity. Arguably, this success is partly due to the high degree... (Review)
Review
Insects are one of the most successful classes on Earth, reflected in an enormous species richness and diversity. Arguably, this success is partly due to the high degree to which polyphenism, where one genotype gives rise to more than one phenotype, is exploited by many of its species. In social insects, for instance, larval diet influences the development into distinct castes; and locust polyphenism has tricked researchers for years into believing that the drastically different solitarious and gregarious phases might be different species. Solitarious locusts behave much as common grasshoppers. However, they are notorious for forming vast, devastating swarms upon crowding. These gregarious animals are shorter lived, less fecund and transmit their phase characteristics to their offspring. The behavioural gregarisation occurs within hours, yet the full display of gregarious characters takes several generations, as does the reversal to the solitarious phase. Hormones, neuropeptides and neurotransmitters influence some of the phase traits; however, none of the suggested mechanisms can account for all the observed differences, notably imprinting effects on longevity and fecundity. This is why, more recently, epigenetics has caught the interest of the polyphenism field. Accumulating evidence points towards a role for epigenetic regulation in locust phase polyphenism. This is corroborated in the economically important locust species Locusta migratoria and Schistocerca gregaria. Here, we review the key elements involved in phase transition in locusts and possible epigenetic regulation. We discuss the relative role of DNA methylation, histone modification and small RNA molecules, and suggest future research directions.
Topics: Animals; Behavior, Animal; Epigenesis, Genetic; Genomics; Grasshoppers; Life Cycle Stages; Models, Biological
PubMed: 25568455
DOI: 10.1242/jeb.107078 -
Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences :... May 2022Insect flight is a complex physiological process that involves sensory and neuroendocrinal control, efficient energy metabolism, rhythmic muscle contraction, and... (Review)
Review
Insect flight is a complex physiological process that involves sensory and neuroendocrinal control, efficient energy metabolism, rhythmic muscle contraction, and coordinated wing movement. As a classical study model for insect flight, locusts have attracted much attention from physiologists, behaviorists, and neuroendocrinologists over the past decades. In earlier research, scientists made extensive efforts to explore the hormone regulation of metabolism related to locust flight; however, this work was hindered by the absence of molecular and genetic tools. Recently, the rapid development of molecular and genetic tools as well as multi-omics has greatly advanced our understanding of the metabolic, molecular, and neuroendocrinal basis of long-term flight in locusts. Novel neural and molecular factors modulating locust flight and their regulatory mechanisms have been explored. Moreover, the molecular mechanisms underlying phase-dependent differences in locust flight have also been revealed. Here, we provide a systematic review of locust flight physiology, with emphasis on recent advances in the neuroendocrinal, genetic, and molecular basis. Future research directions and potential challenges are also addressed.
Topics: Animals; Energy Metabolism; Flight, Animal; Grasshoppers; Insecta; Muscle Contraction
PubMed: 35644827
DOI: 10.1007/s00018-022-04344-9 -
Scientific Reports Aug 2020Acrididae are diverse in size, body shape, behavior, ecology and life history; widely distributed; easy to collect; and important to agriculture. They represent... (Comparative Study)
Comparative Study
Acrididae are diverse in size, body shape, behavior, ecology and life history; widely distributed; easy to collect; and important to agriculture. They represent promising model candidates for functional genomics, but their extremely large genomes have hindered this research; establishing a reference transcriptome for a species is the primary means of obtaining genetic information. Here, two Acrididae species, Gomphocerus licenti and Mongolotettix japonicus, were selected for full-length (FL) PacBio transcriptome sequencing. For G. licenti and M. japonicus, respectively, 590,112 and 566,165 circular consensus sequences (CCS) were generated, which identified 458,131 and 428,979 full-length nonchimeric (FLNC) reads. After isoform-level clustering, next-generation sequencing (NGS) short sequences were used for error correction, and remove redundant sequences with CD-HIT, 17,970 and 16,766 unigenes were generated for G. licenti and M. japonicus. In addition, we obtained 17,495 and 16,373 coding sequences, 1,082 and 813 transcription factors, 11,840 and 10,814 simple sequence repeats, and 905 and 706 long noncoding RNAs by analyzing the transcriptomes of G. licenti and M. japonicus, respectively, and 15,803 and 14,846 unigenes were annotated in eight functional databases. This is the first study to sequence FL transcriptomes of G. licenti and M. japonicus, providing valuable genetic resources for further functional genomics research.
Topics: Alternative Splicing; Animals; Female; Gene Expression Profiling; Grasshoppers; Male; Microsatellite Repeats; RNA, Long Noncoding; Transcriptome
PubMed: 32848169
DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-71178-5 -
BMC Biology Jan 2016Male crickets (Gryllus bimaculatus) establish dominance hierarchies within a population by fighting with one another. Larger males win fights more frequently than their...
Male crickets (Gryllus bimaculatus) establish dominance hierarchies within a population by fighting with one another. Larger males win fights more frequently than their smaller counterparts, and a previous study found that males recognise one another primarily through sensory input from the antennae. This study therefore investigated whether the success of larger crickets is influenced by sensory input from the antennae, in part by assessing the number of fights that large 'antennectomized' crickets won against small crickets, compared with the number that large, intact crickets won. The success rate was significantly lower in antennectomized males, though they still won the majority of fights (73/100 versus 58/100, Fisher's exact test P < 0.05); the authors thus conclude that sensory input from the antennae affects the fighting success of large males, but that other size-related factors also play a part.
Topics: Aggression; Animals; Arthropod Antennae; Behavior, Animal; Body Size; Gryllidae; Male; Sensation; Social Dominance
PubMed: 26787539
DOI: 10.1186/s12915-016-0227-8 -
Journal of Ethnobiology and... Mar 2022In sub-Saharan Africa, there is a wealth of information about insects which is often only orally available. The purpose of the study was to remedy this shortcoming and... (Review)
Review
BACKGROUND
In sub-Saharan Africa, there is a wealth of information about insects which is often only orally available. The purpose of the study was to remedy this shortcoming and make an overview of how orthopteran species are utilised, perceived and experienced in daily life across sub-Saharan Africa.
METHOD
Ethno-entomological information on Orthoptera in sub-Saharan Africa was collected by (1) interviews with more than 300 people from about 120 ethnic groups in 27 countries in the region; (2) library studies in Africa, London, Paris and Leiden; and (3) using web search engines.
RESULTS
More than 126 species of crickets, grasshoppers, and locusts have been identified as edible in sub-Saharan Africa. Some toxic species, such as Zonocerus spp., are eaten by some groups who use processing and detoxifying techniques. The katydid Ruspolia differens is very popular as food in central and eastern Africa and is captured by indigenous and commercial methods. Vernacular names refer to their morphology, behaviour, characteristics or the beliefs associated with the insect. The aposematic pyrgomorphid species, such as Zonocerus spp., are often used as medicine. Children play with grasshoppers, by for instance herding them like cattle, and they consider cricket-hunting for food as a game. The doctrine of signatures probably plays a role, as crickets, because of their chirping, are used to improve the sound of a music instrument, or as medicine to treat earache. Locust plagues are considered a punishment which requires repentance, but also an opportunity to acquire food. Proverbs and stories relate to using the orthopterans as food or to the underground lives of the crickets. Possible explanations are given as to why so many practices, beliefs and stories about orthopterans are so widespread in sub-Saharan Africa. The relevance of recording such ethno-entomological practices is discussed.
CONCLUSION
Grasshoppers, locusts and crickets, although they may be agricultural pests, are very popular as food. They are also used in medicine, and as toys, and they play a role in religion, art and literature.
Topics: Africa South of the Sahara; Animals; Cattle; Food; Grasshoppers; Gryllidae; Humans
PubMed: 35346258
DOI: 10.1186/s13002-022-00524-w