Acrotylini Grasshoppers of Pakistan: A Taxonomic Study | InformativeBD

Barkat Ali Bughio, Riffat Sultana, M. Saeed Wagan, Farman Ullah, and Muhammad Ather Rafi, from the institute of Pakistan. wrote a Research article about, Acrotylini Grasshoppers of Pakistan: A Taxonomic Study. Entitled, Studies on the tribe Acrotylini (Acrididae: Orthoptera) from Pakistan. This research paper published by the International Journal of Biosciences | IJB. an open access scholarly research journal Biosciences. under the affiliation of the International Network For Natural Sciences| INNSpub. an open access multidisciplinary research journal publisher.

Abstract

The tribe Acrotylini are considered as pest of cereal crops, vegetables, orchards and pastures in Pakistan. During present study 5 species and subspecies of the tribe Acrotylini i-e Acrotylus humbertianus (Saussure), A. insubricus insubricus (Scopoli) A. patruelis (Herrich-Schaffer) A. longipes longipes (Charpentier) and A. longipes subfasciatus were examined. In this manuscript general morphological characteristic along with detail study of phallic complex of each species has carried out. Overall finding showed that there is significant difference in the epiphallus, ancorae, lophi and spermatheca of these siblings’ species of Acrotylini.

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Introduction

Grasshopper insects’ fauna belonging to sub family Oedipodinae are of great economic importance in Pakistan. The representatives of tribe Acrotylini are considered as pest, because they pose a constant threat to cereal crops, vegetables, orchards, Pastures and rain-feed areas. These grasshoppers are commonly known as band-winged insects and are characterized by different colors. They are widely distributed throughout the world. The grasshoppers of the tribe Acrotylini are entirely vegetarian and voracious feeders . They cause sever damage to various valued crops i.e. rice, wheat, sugarcane and their surrounding grasses. Majority of them (both adults and nymphs) are active during sun shine and cause heavy damage in cultivated crops. Their population mostly increases during the hottest days of the years. The grasshoppers of tribe Acrotylini are entirely vegetarian and voracious feeders, majority of them are active during sun shine can cause heavy damage in cultivated crops when their population may be increased at high densities. Mostly they are known as geophiles (living in open grounds) and Phytophyles (found at vegetation, grasses, herbs and shrubs). Earlier, genus Acrotylus was studied by (Kirby, 1914, Mischehnko 1936, Bei-Bienko and Mischehnko 1951, Uvarov 1966, Dirsh, 1975) and from Pakistan (Ahmed, 1980, Ritchie, 1981-82, Wagan 1990, Baloch, 1997, and Tokhai 1996). Further, on the basis of different features. Moeed (1966) reported the damaging status of A. insubricus insubricus at agricultural fields of Larkana district. (Ahmed, 1980) surveyed the grasshoppers fauna of Pakistan and reported that some of the Oedipodinae grasshoppers are the pest of orchards. (Wagan and Solangi , 1990) reported heavy damage of some Oedipodinae species on cultivated crops in different areas of Sindh Province. In order to bring the knowledge of Acrotylus of the Pakistan update the present studies highlight the diagnostic characters of phallic complex and epiphallus that have useful value for the purpose of accurate identification. An attempt has been made to classify species belonging to sub-family Oedipodinae on the basis of easily recognizable characters of external morphology and genitalia components. The study of these two parameters would led to the correct identification of this tribe, which will be very useful to control the pest at appropriate time.

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Article source : Studies on the tribe Acrotylini (Acrididae: Orthoptera) from Pakistan