Acridids of interest
Acridid species of interest
Introduction:
antiniketan is situated in the Birbhum district of the Gangetic West
Bengal and is a part of the Ajoy-Kopai inter-riverine tract in Rarh
region of the state of West Bengal (Sinha, 1997). This place has
laterite soil which is typical of Rarh region. This soil is reddish, sandy and
coarse in appearance. Geographically Santiniketan is located at approximate
latitude of 2339N and longitude of 8742E with an average altitude of
58.9m above sea level.
Saha and Haldar (2009) and Saha et al. (2011) reported 33 shorthorned grasshopper (acridid) species to be found in and around Santiniketan.
But whenever acridids are being considered as food source for fish and the
other livestock their mass production should be kept in mind for a recurring
supply to the feed producing companies. Hence it is apparent that multivoltine
acridids are more suitable as they could yield higher annual biomass than the
univoltine ones. Among the acridids found in Santiniketan, three species, i.e.
Oedaleus abruptus (Thunberg), Spathosternum prasiniferum prasiniferum
(Walker), and Oxya fuscovittata (Marschall) were found to be multivoltine in
nature and were considered for the present study. The following descriptions
are given according to the reports of Kirby (1914) and Dey and Hazra (2003).
Acridids of interest:
1) Oedaleus abruptus (Thunberg):
These are medium sized grasshoppers with brown or white markings.
Their multi-segmented antennae are nearly one third times longer than head
and pronotum together. Males are about 13.5mm long and have about 39mg
dry weight, whereas females are more robust than males. These are about
19.4mm long having 52mg dry weight. Their ventral ovipositor valve is
strongly sclerotized with strongly curved apices. These are trivoltine in nature,
i.e. they can complete 3 life cycles within a year.
Distribution: India (West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Goa,
Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa,
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Acridids of interest
Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh), Bangladesh, Myanmar, China,
Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
Systematic position: (According to Orthoptera species file version 2.0/4.0)
Kingdom- Animalia
Phylum- Arthropoda
Subphylum- Hexapoda
Class- Insecta
Subclass- Pterygota
Infraclass- Neoptera
Order- Orthoptera
Suborder- Caelifera
Infraorder- Acrididea
Superfamily- Acridoidea
Family- Acrididae
Subfamily- Odipodinae
Genus- Oedaleus
Species- Oedaleus abruptus
2) Spathosternum prasiniferum prasiniferum (Walker):
These are small and greenish in appearance. Two broad blackish or
dark greenish bands run behind the lower part of the eyes. Males are about
14.4mm long with antennae of about 3.9mm. Their average dry weight is
45mg. On the other hand females are more robust than males. These are about
17.9mm long having 4.8mm long antennae. Their average dry weight is 65mg.
This is a tetravoltine species, i.e., they can complete four generations per
annum.
Distribution: India (West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh,
Bihar, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh,
Maharashtra, Orissa, Rajasthan, and Tamil Nadu), Myanmar, China, Thailand
and Vietnam.
Systematic position: (According to Orthoptera species file version 2.0/4.0)
Kingdom- Animalia
Phylum- Arthropoda
Subphylum- Hexapoda
Class- Insecta
Subclass- Pterygota
Infraclass- Neoptera
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Acridids of interest
Order- Orthoptera
Suborder- Caelifera
Infraorder- Acrididea
Superfamily- Acridoidea
Family- Acrididae
Subfamily- Spathosterninae
Genus- Spathosternum
Species-Spathosternum prasiniferum prasiniferum
3) Oxya fuscovittata (Marschall):
This species has a shiny integument which is greenish or yellowish
green in appearance. They have 26-28 segmented antennae. Males are about
18.3mm long having 7.5mm long antennae. Their average dry weight is 46mg.
On the contrary females are much more robust than their male counterpart like
the other two acridid species. These are about 23.7mm long with about 8.0mm
long antennae. They have about 65mg dry weight. This is a tetravoltine
species, i.e., they can complete four generations per annum, which is identical
to S. prasiniferum prasiniferum.
Distribution: India (West Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Jammu and
Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Rajasthan, and Uttar Pradesh), Western
part of Pakistan, Afganistan, South-Western part of former USSR.
Systematic position: (According to Orthoptera species file version 2.0/4.0)
Kingdom- Animalia
Phylum- Arthropoda
Subphylum- Hexapoda
Class- Insecta
Subclass- Pterygota
Infraclass- Neoptera
Order- Orthoptera
Suborder- Caelifera
Infraorder- Acrididea
Superfamily- Acridoidea
Family- Acrididae
Subfamily- Oxyinae
Genus- Oxya
Species- Oxya fuscovittata
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Acridids of interest
Acridids of interest: 1) Oedaleus abruptus (Thunberg)
Male
Female
24
Acridids of interest
Acridids of interest: 2) Spathosternum prasiniferum prasiniferum (Walker)
Male
Female
25
Acridids of interest
Acridids of interest: 3) Oxya fuscovittata (Marschall)
Male
Female
26
