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PloS One 2018The morphology and ultrastructure of the midgut of Gampsocleis gratiosa (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae) was examined by light and electron microscopy. The midgut consists of...
The morphology and ultrastructure of the midgut of Gampsocleis gratiosa (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae) was examined by light and electron microscopy. The midgut consists of two bulbous gastric caeca and a tubular ventriculus. The general organization of the gastric caeca is similar to that of the ventriculus. They are composed of a peritrophic membrane, an epithelium, a basal lamina and muscle layer from the inside to outside. Three types of cells were identified: regenerative, principal, and endocrine. Regenerative cells occur in groups (called nidi) at the base of principal cells. Principal cells grow from regenerative cells. Rare endocrine cells are scattered throughout the epithelium. Principal cells exhibit intense secretory activity, and regional differences in their ultrastructure were observed along the entire midgut. The microvilli are longer than those in any other region in the posterior region of the midgut. Lysosomes, multivesicular bodies (MVBs), autophagosomes, abundant Golgi apparatuses and lipid droplets primarily occur in the gastric caeca. Three pathways of secretion (merocrine, apocrine and holocrine) occur within the midgut epithelium, and a distinctive type of apocrine bleb was found in the gastric caeca. Therefore, these gastric caeca may be evolving toward a special type of gland.
Topics: Animals; Digestive System; Orthoptera
PubMed: 29985965
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0200405 -
Neural Networks : the Official Journal... Sep 2023Physiological studies have shown that a group of locust's lobula giant movement detectors (LGMDs) has a diversity of collision selectivity to approaching objects,...
Physiological studies have shown that a group of locust's lobula giant movement detectors (LGMDs) has a diversity of collision selectivity to approaching objects, relatively darker or brighter than their backgrounds in cluttered environments. Such diversity of collision selectivity can serve locusts to escape from attack by natural enemies, and migrate in swarm free of collision. For computational studies, endeavours have been made to realize the diverse selectivity which, however, is still one of the most challenging tasks especially in complex and dynamic real world scenarios. The existing models are mainly formulated as multi-layered neural networks with merely feed-forward information processing, and do not take into account the effect of re-entrant signals in feedback loop, which is an essential regulatory loop for motion perception, yet never been explored in looming perception. In this paper, we inaugurate feedback neural computation for constructing a new LGMD-based model, named F-LGMD to look into the efficacy upon implementing different collision selectivity. Accordingly, the proposed neural network model features both feed-forward processing and feedback loop. The feedback control propagates output signals of parallel ON/OFF channels back into their starting neurons, thus makes part of the feed-forward neural network, i.e. the ON/OFF channels and the feedback loop form an iterative cycle system. Moreover, the feedback control is instantaneous, which leads to the existence of a fixed point whereby the fixed point theorem is applied to rigorously derive valid range of feedback coefficients. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed method, we conduct systematic experiments covering synthetic and natural collision datasets, and also online robotic tests. The experimental results show that the F-LGMD, with a unified network, can fulfil the diverse collision selectivity revealed in physiology, which not only reduces considerably the handcrafted parameters compared to previous studies, but also offers a both efficient and robust scheme for collision perception through feedback neural computation.
Topics: Animals; Feedback; Cognition; Neurons; Grasshoppers; Motion Perception
PubMed: 37480767
DOI: 10.1016/j.neunet.2023.06.039 -
Journal of Insect Science (Online) Sep 2020The present study deals with the taxonomical analysis of the edible insects commercialized in the state of Morelos, Mexico. We have recorded two species under the order...
The present study deals with the taxonomical analysis of the edible insects commercialized in the state of Morelos, Mexico. We have recorded two species under the order Orthoptera and four species under Hemiptera-Heteroptera. Our work revealed that grasshoppers and small hemipterans known as 'jumiles' are the two main insects sold in the markets of the state of Morelos. We also discuss insects' prices and their economic importance for the livelihood improvement of the local people connected to the edible insect trade.
Topics: Animals; Commerce; Diet; Edible Insects; Grasshoppers; Hemiptera; Humans; Indigenous Peoples; Mexico
PubMed: 33064131
DOI: 10.1093/jisesa/ieaa106 -
PloS One 2022Reconstructing the evolution, diversity, and paleobiogeography of North America's Late Cretaceous dinosaur assemblages require spatiotemporally contiguous data; however,...
Reconstructing the evolution, diversity, and paleobiogeography of North America's Late Cretaceous dinosaur assemblages require spatiotemporally contiguous data; however, there remains a spatial and temporal disparity in dinosaur data on the continent. The rarity of vertebrate-bearing sedimentary deposits representing Turonian-Santonian ecosystems, and the relatively sparse record of dinosaurs from the eastern portion of the continent, present persistent challenges for studies of North American dinosaur evolution. Here we describe an assemblage of ornithomimosaurian materials from the Santonian Eutaw Formation of Mississippi. Morphological data coupled with osteohistological growth markers suggest the presence of two taxa of different body sizes, including one of the largest ornithomimosaurians known worldwide. The regression predicts a femoral circumference and a body mass of the Eutaw individuals similar to or greater than that of large-bodied ornithomimosaurs, Beishanlong grandis, and Gallimimus bullatus. The paleoosteohistology of MMNS VP-6332 demonstrates that the individual was at least ten years of age (similar to B. grandis [~375 kg, 13-14 years old at death]). Additional pedal elements share some intriguing features with ornithomimosaurs, yet suggest a larger-body size closer to Deinocheirus mirificus. The presence of a large-bodied ornithomimosaur in this region during this time is consistent with the relatively recent discoveries of early-diverging, large-bodied ornithomimosaurs from mid-Cretaceous strata of Laurasia (Arkansaurus fridayi and B. grandis). The smaller Eutaw taxon is represented by a tibia preserving seven growth cycles, with osteohistological indicators of decreasing growth, yet belongs to an individual approaching somatic maturity, suggesting the co-existence of medium- and large-bodied ornithomimosaur taxa during the Late Cretaceous Santonian of North America. The Eutaw ornithomimosaur materials provide key information on the diversity and distribution of North American ornithomimosaurs and Appalachian dinosaurs and fit with broader evidence of multiple cohabiting species of ornithomimosaurian dinosaurs in Late Cretaceous ecosystems of Laurasia.
Topics: Animals; Fossils; Ecosystem; Dinosaurs; North America; Grasshoppers; Appalachian Region
PubMed: 36260601
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0266648 -
F1000Research 2020: At the time of publication, the most devastating desert locust crisis in decades is affecting East Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and South-West Asia. The situation is...
: At the time of publication, the most devastating desert locust crisis in decades is affecting East Africa, the Arabian Peninsula and South-West Asia. The situation is extremely alarming in East Africa, where Kenya, Ethiopia and Somalia face an unprecedented threat to food security and livelihoods. Most of the time, however, locusts do not occur in swarms, but live as relatively harmless solitary insects. The phenotypically distinct solitarious and gregarious locust phases differ markedly in many aspects of behaviour, physiology and morphology, making them an excellent model to study how environmental factors shape behaviour and development. A better understanding of the extreme phenotypic plasticity in desert locusts will offer new, more environmentally sustainable ways of fighting devastating swarms. : High molecular weight DNA derived from two adult males was used for Mate Pair and Paired End Illumina sequencing and PacBio sequencing. A reliable reference genome of was assembled using the ABySS pipeline, scaffolding was improved using LINKS. : In total, 1,316 Gb Illumina reads and 112 Gb PacBio reads were produced and assembled. The resulting draft genome consists of 8,817,834,205 bp organised in 955,015 scaffolds with an N50 of 157,705 bp, making the desert locust genome the largest insect genome sequenced and assembled to date. In total, 18,815 protein-encoding genes are predicted in the desert locust genome, of which 13,646 (72.53%) obtained at least one functional assignment based on similarity to known proteins. : The desert locust genome data will contribute greatly to studies of phenotypic plasticity, physiology, neurobiology, molecular ecology, evolutionary genetics and comparative genomics, and will promote the desert locust's use as a model system. The data will also facilitate the development of novel, more sustainable strategies for preventing or combating swarms of these infamous insects.
Topics: Animals; Base Sequence; Genome, Insect; Grasshoppers; High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; Kenya; Male
PubMed: 33163158
DOI: 10.12688/f1000research.25148.2 -
Biological Research Oct 2017This study aimed to reveal the mitochondrial genomes (mtgenomes) of Tetrix japonica and Alulatettix yunnanensis, and the phylogenetics of Orthoptera species.
OBJECTIVE
This study aimed to reveal the mitochondrial genomes (mtgenomes) of Tetrix japonica and Alulatettix yunnanensis, and the phylogenetics of Orthoptera species.
METHODS
The mtgenomes of A. yunnanensis and T. japonica were firstly sequenced and assembled through partial sequences amplification, and then the genome organization and gene arrangement were analyzed. Based on nucleotide/amino acid sequences of 13 protein-coding genes and whole mtgenomes, phylogenetic trees were established on 37 Orthoptera species and 5 outgroups, respectively.
RESULTS
Except for a regulation region (A+T rich region), a total of 37 genes were found in mtgenomes of T. japonica and A. yunnanensis, including 13 protein-coding genes, 2 ribosomal RNA genes, and 22 transfer RNA genes, which exhibited similar characters with other Orthoptera species. Phylogenetic tree based on 13 concatenated protein-coding nucleotide sequences were considered to be more suitable for phylogenetic reconstruction of Orthoptera species than amino acid sequences and mtgenomes. The phylogenetic relationships of Caelifera species were Acridoidea and Pamphagoidea > Pyrgomorphoidea > Pneumoroidea > Eumastacoidea > Tetrigoidea > Tridactyloidea. Besides, a sister-group relationship between Tettigonioidea and Rhaphidophoroidea was revealed in Ensifera.
CONCLUSION
Concatenated protein-coding nucleotide sequences of 13 genes were suitable for reconstruction of phylogenetic relationship in orthopteroid species. Tridactyloidea was a sister group of Tetrigoidea in Caelifera, and Rhaphidophoroidea was a sister group of Tettigonioidea in Ensifera.
Topics: Animals; Base Sequence; Evolution, Molecular; Genome, Mitochondrial; Grasshoppers; Phylogeny; Sequence Analysis, DNA
PubMed: 28982393
DOI: 10.1186/s40659-017-0132-9 -
Sensors (Basel, Switzerland) Nov 2021Cloud computing is an emerging paradigm that offers flexible and seamless services for users based on their needs, including user budget savings. However, the...
Cloud computing is an emerging paradigm that offers flexible and seamless services for users based on their needs, including user budget savings. However, the involvement of a vast number of cloud users has made the scheduling of users' tasks (i.e., cloudlets) a challenging issue in selecting suitable data centres, servers (hosts), and virtual machines (VMs). Cloudlet scheduling is an NP-complete problem that can be solved using various meta-heuristic algorithms, which are quite popular due to their effectiveness. Massive user tasks and rapid growth in cloud resources have become increasingly complex challenges; therefore, an efficient algorithm is necessary for allocating cloudlets efficiently to attain better execution times, resource utilisation, and waiting times. This paper proposes a cloudlet scheduling, locust inspired algorithm to reduce the average makespan and waiting time and to boost VM and server utilisation. The CloudSim toolkit was used to evaluate our algorithm's efficiency, and the obtained results revealed that our algorithm outperforms other state-of-the-art nature-inspired algorithms, improving the average makespan, waiting time, and resource utilisation.
Topics: Algorithms; Animals; Cloud Computing; Computers; Grasshoppers; Heuristics
PubMed: 34770615
DOI: 10.3390/s21217308 -
Nature Communications Jan 2021Gene flow is predicted to impede parallel adaptation via de novo mutation, because it can introduce pre-existing adaptive alleles from population to population. We test...
Gene flow is predicted to impede parallel adaptation via de novo mutation, because it can introduce pre-existing adaptive alleles from population to population. We test this using Hawaiian crickets (Teleogryllus oceanicus) in which 'flatwing' males that lack sound-producing wing structures recently arose and spread under selection from an acoustically-orienting parasitoid. Morphometric and genetic comparisons identify distinct flatwing phenotypes in populations on three islands, localized to different loci. Nevertheless, we detect strong, recent and ongoing gene flow among the populations. Using genome scans and gene expression analysis we find that parallel evolution of flatwing on different islands is associated with shared genomic hotspots of adaptation that contain the gene doublesex, but the form of selection differs among islands and corresponds to known flatwing demographics in the wild. We thus show how parallel adaptation can occur on contemporary timescales despite gene flow, indicating that it could be less constrained than previously appreciated.
Topics: Adaptation, Physiological; Animals; Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; Gene Flow; Genetic Loci; Genetic Variation; Genetics, Population; Genome, Insect; Geography; Gryllidae; Hawaii; Islands; Male; Selection, Genetic; Wings, Animal
PubMed: 33397914
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-020-20263-4 -
Frontiers in Immunology 2022is one of the most important agricultural pests in China. The locust has high fecundity and consumes large quantities of food, causing severe damage to diverse crops...
is one of the most important agricultural pests in China. The locust has high fecundity and consumes large quantities of food, causing severe damage to diverse crops such as corn, sorghum, and rice. Immunity against pathogens and reproductive success are two important components of individual fitness, and many insects have a trade-off between reproduction and immunity when resources are limited, which may be an important target for pest control. In this study, adult females were treated with different concentrations (5 × 10 spores/mL or 2 × 10 spores/mL) of the entomopathogenic fungus . Effects of input to immunity on reproduction were studied by measuring feeding amount, enzyme activity, vitellogenin (Vg) and vitellogenin receptor (VgR) production, ovary development, and oviposition amount. When infected by , feeding rate and phenol oxidase and lysozyme activities increased, mRNA expression of and genes decreased, and yolk deposition was blocked. Weight of ovaries decreased, with significant decreases in egg, length and weight.Thus, locusts used nutritive input required for reproduction to resist invasion by microsporidia. This leads to a decrease in expression of and genes inhibited ovarian development, and greatly decreased total fecundity. at 2 × 10 spores/mL had a more obvious inhibitory effect on the ovarian development in migratory locusts. This study provides a detailed trade-off between reproduction and immune input of the female, which provides a reliable basis to find pest targets for biological control from those trade-off processes.
Topics: Animals; Female; Locusta migratoria; Microsporidia; Oviposition; Reproduction
PubMed: 35935997
DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.848267 -
Proceedings of the National Academy of... Jan 2022Flight ability is essential for the enormous diversity and evolutionary success of insects. The migratory locusts exhibit flight capacity plasticity in gregarious and...
Flight ability is essential for the enormous diversity and evolutionary success of insects. The migratory locusts exhibit flight capacity plasticity in gregarious and solitary individuals closely linked with different density experiences. However, the differential mechanisms underlying flight traits of locusts are largely unexplored. Here, we investigated the variation of flight capacity by using behavioral, physiological, and multiomics approaches. Behavioral assays showed that solitary locusts possess high initial flight speeds and short-term flight, whereas gregarious locusts can fly for a longer distance at a relatively lower speed. Metabolome-transcriptome analysis revealed that solitary locusts have more active flight muscle energy metabolism than gregarious locusts, whereas gregarious locusts show less evidence of reactive oxygen species production during flight. The repression of metabolic activity by RNA interference markedly reduced the initial flight speed of solitary locusts. Elevating the oxidative stress by paraquat injection remarkably inhibited the long-distance flight of gregarious locusts. In respective crowding and isolation treatments, energy metabolic profiles and flight traits of solitary and gregarious locusts were reversed, indicating that the differentiation of flight capacity depended on density and can be reshaped rapidly. The density-dependent flight traits of locusts were attributed to the plasticity of energy metabolism and degree of oxidative stress production but not energy storage. The findings provided insights into the mechanism underlying the trade-off between velocity and sustainability in animal locomotion and movement.
Topics: Animals; Behavior, Animal; Energy Metabolism; Flight, Animal; Grasshoppers; Oxidative Stress; Population Density
PubMed: 34969848
DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2115753118