...Bert Foquet; Drew W. Little; Jorge Humberto Medina-Durán; Hojun Song ABSTRACT Locusts exhibit an extreme form of phenotypic plasticity and can exist as two alternative phenotypes, known as solitarious and gregarious phases. These phases, which can transform from one to another depending on local...

... used biochemical and electrophysiological approaches in the locust, Locusta migratoria , to test the hypothesis that the protection afforded by RCH is mediated by activation of the Na + /K + -ATPase (NKA) in neural tissue. RCH did not affect NKA activity measured in a biochemical assay of homogenized...

... problem of adapting these movements to step-like changes in body morphology during metamorphosis or moulting. Locusts are hemimetabolous insects in which the imaginal moult to adulthood results in a sudden and dramatic allometric growth of the wings relative to the body and the legs. We show that, despite...

...Tarquin P. Stott; Erik G. N. Olson; Rachel H. Parkinson; John R. Gray ABSTRACT Adaptive collision avoidance behaviours require accurate detection of complex spatiotemporal properties of an object approaching in an animal's natural, three-dimensional environment. Within the locust, the lobula giant...

... tubes of the tracheal system. This study measured maximum flight metabolic rate (FMR) during tethered flight in the migratory locust Locusta migratoria under varying oxygen partial pressure ( P O 2 ) in background gas mixtures of nitrogen (N 2 ), sulfur hexafluoride (SF 6 ) and helium (He), to vary O 2...

... are widely conserved. However, based on the variation of DNA methyltransferase genes in invertebrates, it has also been proposed that DNA methylation could provide a molecular mechanism for ecological adaptation. We have now analyzed the methylome of the desert locust, Schistocerca gregaria , which...

... pulses (flutter phase), and then a period in which respiratory gases move freely between insect and environment (open phase). This study measured CO 2 emission in resting locusts Locusta migratoria throughout ontogeny, in normoxia (21 kPa P O2 ), hypoxia (7 kPa P O2 ) and hyperoxia (40 kPa P O2...

... examined the role of a locust FGLa/AST (Scg-AST-6) in the gut. Proctolin and Scg-AST-6 have opposing effects on gut contraction, where proctolin dose-dependently increases gut muscle tension, while Scg-AST-6 inhibits both muscle tension and spontaneous and neurogenic contractions in a dose-dependent manner...

... for oxygen. We tested this in the respiratory system of the adult migratory locust Locusta migratoria by comparing the aerobic capacity of hopping and flight muscle with the morphology of the oxygen cascade. Maximum oxygen uptake by flight muscle during tethered flight is 967±76 μmol h −1 g −1 (body mass...

... where insects have been tethered. To address this issue, oxygen consumption was measured during tethered flight in adult locusts Locusta migratoria , some of which had a weight attached to each wing (totalling 30–45% of body mass). Mass-specific metabolic rate increased from 28±2 μmol O 2 g −1 h −1...

... of sound in the cochlea; however, certain animals lacking a cochlea and hair cells are also reported to be capable of DPOAEs. In the Insecta, DPOAEs have been recorded from the locust auditory organ. However, the site of generation of these DPOAEs and the physiological mechanisms causing their presence...

... in the respiratory system of the migratory locust, Locusta migratoria , by comparing the aerobic capacity of the jumping muscles with the morphology of the oxygen cascade in the hopping legs using an intraspecific allometric analysis of different body mass ( M b ) at selected juvenile life stages. The maximum oxygen...

...Edward P. Snelling; Roger S. Seymour; Philip G. D. Matthews; Sue Runciman; Craig R. White SUMMARY The hemimetabolous migratory locust Locusta migratoria progresses through five instars to the adult, increasing in size from 0.02 to 0.95 g, a 45-fold change. Hopping locomotion occurs at all life...

...David Cofer; Gennady Cymbalyuk; William J. Heitler; Donald H. Edwards SUMMARY Locust can jump precisely to a target, yet they can also tumble during the trajectory. We propose two mechanisms that would allow the locust to control tumbling during the jump. The first is that prior to the jump...

...Peter J. Simmons; Rob R. de Ruyter van Steveninck SUMMARY We investigate coding in a locust brain neuron, DNI, which transforms graded synaptic input from ocellar L-neurons into axonal spikes that travel to excite particular thoracic flight neurons. Ocellar neurons are naturally stimulated...

...D. Cofer; G. Cymbalyuk; W. J. Heitler; D. H. Edwards SUMMARY The neural circuitry and biomechanics of kicking in locusts have been studied to understand their roles in the control of both kicking and jumping. It has been hypothesized that the same neural circuit and biomechanics governed both...

... hormones. One of these, the ion transport peptide (ITP), is a chloride transport-stimulating and acid secretion-inhibiting hormone similar to crustacean hyperglycaemic hormones(CHHs). In locusts, moths and fruit flies, ITP together with the slightly longer ITPL isoforms, inactive in hindgut bioassays...

...Philip L. Newland; Paul Yates SUMMARY In locusts, a central pattern generator underlies the rhythmic movements of the ovipositor valves that serve to drive the abdomen into damp soil in order to lay eggs. We have investigated the role of nitric oxide (NO) in the control of this oviposition digging...

... by photoperiod, prior heat experience and the sex of the animal. We compared thermosensitivity and thermotolerance of ventilatory motor pattern generation in locusts reared under two photoperiods (12:12 and 16:8; i.e. 12 h:12 h and 16 h:8 h L:D, respectively) before and after heat shock pre-treatment (HS: 3 h...

...Peter Bräunig; Michael Schmäh; Harald Wolf SUMMARY The inhibitory innervation of the intersegmental (body wall) muscles between the first and the second thoracic segment of the migratory locust, Locusta migratoria , was investigated using neuroanatomical,immunocytochemical...