Morphometric studies on Rhammatocerus schistocercoides (Rehn, 1906) Orthoptera, Acrididae, Gomphocerinae in Brazilian and Colombian populations

#Rhammatocerus schistocercoides# (Rehn 1906) displays a very conspicuous gregarious behavior both in nymphal (bands) and adult (swarms) stages. To see if this species displays morphological phases, classical measurements of morphological characteristics were made on adults collectes from populations of different densities and localities in the Chapada dos Parecis, State of Mato Grosso, Brazil, during 1992-94 and in the llanos region in Colombia. A very high degree of morphological and chromatic homogeneity was observed in all studied populations. The results showed that #R. schistocercoides# does not display the phase phenomenon in spite of its very conspicuous gregarious behavior. So it leads us to consider that this species is not a true "locust" and is better classified as a "grasshopper". Nevertheless more accurate studies are necessary to examine other polymorphic phenomena related to population densities in the nymphal stage or finer density-dependent variations in physiology of nymphs or adults.

Bibliographic Details

Main Authors:	Pierozzi, I., Lecoq, Michel
Format:	article biblioteca
Language:	eng
Subjects:	H10 - Ravageurs des plantes, Rhammatocerus, conformation animale, mensuration corporelle, Rhammatocerus schistocercoides, http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_36335, http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_29251, http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_980, http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_37043, http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_1070, http://aims.fao.org/aos/agrovoc/c_1767,
Online Access:	http://agritrop.cirad.fr/390262/
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