First Record of the Occurrence and Genetics of a Short-Winged Morph in the Migratory Locust,Locusta migratoria(Orthoptera: Acrididae)

Abstract

Short-winged adults appeared in the 2nd generation of inbred colonies of migratory locusts, Locusta migratoria, originating from Tsushima Island, Japan. Of 14 family lines, two produced several short-winged adults in the 2nd generation. These short-winged adults also had shorter hind femora than long-winged adults, indicating they may represent ‘the short-winged morph’ rather than monsters with abnormally short wings. The two wing morphs could be separated by the ratio of forewing length to head width. Crosses between the two wing morphs revealed that the short-winged morph was controlled by a simple recessive Mendelian unit. It is unknown whether the short-winged morph occurs in the field.