Acridid Species Research Articles

Experimental Studies on the Choice of Oviposition Sites by Two Species of Chorthippus (Orthoptera: Acrididae)

It has been observed that most acridid species have restricted oviposition sites. In some species the soil relation is very pronounced while in others it is not so well marked or may be altogether absent. Vestal (1913), Smith (1915), Severin & Gilbertson (1917), Criddle (1918, 1933), Rubtzov (1935), Shotwell (1935), Weddel (1937), Zimin (1938), Watson & Bartley (1940), Clark (1949), Waloff (1950) and Richards & Waloff (1954) have described the selection of egg-laying sites in grasshoppers inhabiting fields, meadows, pastures and sandy heaths. Some workers like McClung (1899), Rubtzov (1935), Knutson (1937), Iseley (1938) and Professor George J. Spencer (private communication) have also attempted to study experimentally and to analyse the factors responsible for such selection in grasshoppers. Experimental studies on the selection of oviposition sites by several locust species have been made by Johnston & Maxwell-Darling (1931), Faure (1932), Kennedy (1949), Znamenskii (1951) and Choudhuri (1956a, b). Observations on the experimental studies on the choice of oviposition sites by two common British grasshoppers, Chorthip_pus parallelus (Zett.) and C. brunneus (Thunb.) are reported here.