The importance of the autoventilation associated with wing movements to gas exchange in the tracheal system of insects is well established (Weis-Fogh, 1967), and data are available on the relative effectiveness of autoventilation and abdominal pumping in ventilatory exchange (Bartholomew & Barnhart, 1984). However, only preliminary information relating ventilatory behaviour and oxygen consumption during terrestrial locomotion have been published (Bartholomew, Lighton & Louw, 1985; Lighton, 1985).
Published information on the minimum energy cost of walking and running in insects exists for five species of cockroaches (Herreid, Full & Prawel, 1981; Herreid, Prawel & Full, 1981; Herreid & Full, 1984) and six species of flightless beetles (Bartholomew et al. 1985; Lighton, 1985). Clearly, more data are needed before the relationship between mass and cost of transport in insects can be evaluated.
Our studies took place during...
