Ultrastructure Study On The Stridulatory Organs Of Twenty-three Species Of Acridoidea

Songs are the languages for insects. It’s the major communication mode of information between insects. The most important function of the songs is to attract females, particularly for mating. Stridulatory organs are used for generating songs, There are some difference in stidulatory organs between the different insects.Acridoidea belongs to Orthoptera, it’s a bigger group in Orthoptera, There are about1000species of grasshoppers in China. A majority of locust species can produce sounds, but on the stridulatory organs study, there are just only dozens of species are reported now, strudulatory organs of the other locust species are still unknown. Ultrastructure structure of stridulatory organs plays an important role in taxonomy of grasshoppers. In this paper, we described the stridulatory organs structure of twenty-three grasshoppers by scanning electron microscope firstly, then compared the differences of stridulatory organs with the different families and generas of grasshoppers by clustering analysis. Ultrastructure study on the stridulatory organs proposed a new method for classification for grasshoppers and provided a basic theory for origin and evolution of stridulatory organs.The study is also helpful to the communication behavior of grasshoppers.In this paper, the twenty-three species of grasshoppers we collected belong to four families, nine generas, they are:Family Oedipodidae:Genus Angaracris Bey-Bienko Genus Mecostethus FieberFamily Gomphoceridae:Genus Gomphocerus ThunbFamily Acrididae:Genus Chrysochraon Fisch Genus Confusacris Yin Genus Mongolotettix RehnFamily Arcyperida:Genus Chorthippus Fieber Genus Pararcyptera Tarb Genus Podismopsis ZubThe results in this paper are as follows:1. The distribution sites of teeth file:The file teeth of Oedipodidae are distributed on the fore wing. The others familes of the grasshoppers are distributed on the hind femur. 2. The arrangement of teeth file:The teeth file of Oedipodidae and Acrididae are arranged in a single row; In Gomphoceridae, the file teeth are arranged stagger and multiseriate in about one fifth of the stridulatory file; There are some individual teeth files of Chorthippus Fieber in Arcyperida are stagger., the other grasshoppers’ teeth files are arranged regularly.3. The shape of teeth file:Angaracris Bey-Bienko of Oedipodidae, the shapes of teeth file are transverse ellipse, the other genus Mecostethus Fieber are slender; Teeth file of Gomphoceridae are similar to conoid; In Acrididae, the shapes of teeth file are close to vertical ellipse; The teeth file of Ch.Changbaishanensis Liu of Chorthippus Fieber are more slender than the other grasshoppers in this genus. The Podismopsis Zub of Arcyperida, the teeth file are kin to pyramidal. Some receptors are found in fossa of teeth of several species in this family.4. The clustering analysis result:Taking advantage of the stridulatory file to classify the grasshoppers has some inconsistent with morphology classification. The morphological characteristics of teeth file can be a supplement method for the morphology in grasshopper classification.The innovation of this paper:In this paper, it’s the first time to find and put forward a new structure of teeth file------the protuberance. It’s situated in the apex of the teeth file. In a great majority of grasshoppers, the shapes of protuberance are analogous to oblate.