Senescence in field crickets (Orthoptera; Gryllidae): examining the effects of sex and a sex-biased parasitoid

2000 ◽  
Vol 78 (1) ◽  
pp. 140-143 ◽  
Author(s):  
David A Gray ◽  
William H Cade
Keyword(s):  
Field Cricket ◽  
Gryllus Pennsylvanicus ◽  
Extrinsic Mortality ◽  
Field Crickets ◽  
Younger Age ◽  
In The Wild ◽  
Theory Of Aging ◽  
Male Calling ◽  
Intrinsic Mortality ◽  
Gryllus Integer

The evolutionary theory of aging proposes that senescence is related to decreased selection against deleterious mutations acting late in life. Senescence, i.e., an increase in intrinsic mortality with age, should reflect levels of extrinsic mortality early in life. We tested these predictions using two species of field cricket, Gryllus integer and Gryllus pennsylvanicus. Gryllus integer males are host to a sex-biased parasitoid fly, which orients to the male calling song. As a result, males have reduced life expectancy compared with females in the field. In contrast, G. pennsylvanicus males and females appear to have similar life expectancies in the wild. Thus, we predicted that there would be a significant species × sex interaction, with G. integer males having the shortest life-span. In two replicates, we found that males of both species died at a significantly younger age than females. However, no evidence of a species × sex interaction was found: in the first replicate, G. integer males died earliest, in the second replicate, G. pennsylvanicus males died earliest.

The relative effects of mating status and age on the mating behaviour of female field crickets

2010 ◽  
Vol 88 (2) ◽  
pp. 219-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kevin A. Judge ◽  
Kim-Chi Tran ◽  
Darryl T. Gwynne
Keyword(s):  
Mating Behaviour ◽  
Older Individuals ◽  
Mating Status ◽  
Female Age ◽  
Intrinsic Factors ◽  
Gryllus Pennsylvanicus ◽  
Field Crickets ◽  
In The Wild ◽  
Female Behaviour ◽  
Female Choosiness

Intrinsic factors such as female age and mating status have been found to affect female choosiness. However, as these factors are often confounded in the wild because mated females are usually older individuals, the relative influence of these two factors on female behaviour is unclear. Using a fully factorial design, we tested the relative effects of age and mating status of female field crickets ( Gryllus pennsylvanicus Burmeister, 1838) on both (i) the probability that she would mate and (ii) her latency to mate. We found that virgin females were both more likely to mate and copulated more quickly than mated females, but female age had no significant effect on either the probability of mating or the latency to copulate. These results clearly show that mating status is more important in determining female mating behaviour than age. We suggest that previous work which showed an age effect on female choosiness in virgins alone might be of reduced relevance if most females do not remain unmated for long.

Geographic variation in hybrid fertility in the field crickets Gryllus integer, G. rubens, and Gryllus sp.

1990 ◽  
Vol 68 (12) ◽  
pp. 2697-2700 ◽  
Author(s):  
William H. Cade ◽  
Michael G. Tyshenko
Keyword(s):  
New Mexico ◽  
Geographic Variation ◽  
Low Frequency ◽  
Field Cricket ◽  
Reciprocal Crosses ◽  
Very Low Frequency ◽  
Hybrid Fertility ◽  
Field Crickets ◽  
Central Texas ◽  
Gryllus Integer

Hybridization was attempted between three geographically separated field cricket populations having males that produce distinct songs. Gryllus integer from central Texas and G. rubens from Arkansas produced many offspring in both reciprocal crosses. Gryllus sp. from New Mexico also produced hybrid offspring in matings with G. integer and G. rubens but at a very low frequency and only in crosses where the female was Gryllus sp. In previous experiments, G. integer from California was unable to hybridize with G. integer from Texas and G. rubens.

scholarly journals Empirical Evidence for Various Evolutionary Hypotheses on Species Demonstrating Increasing Mortality with Increasing Chronological Age in the Wild

2008 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 182-193 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giacinto Libertini
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Evidence ◽  
Inverse Correlation ◽  
The Other ◽  
Chronological Age ◽  
Extrinsic Mortality ◽  
In The Wild ◽  
Negligible Senescence ◽  
Genetically Determined ◽  
Intrinsic Mortality ◽  
Cell Functionality

Many species show a significant increase in mortality with increasing chronological age in the wild. For this phenomenon, three possible general hypotheses are proposed, namely that: (1) it has no adaptive meaning; (2) it has an adaptive meaning; (3) the ancestry is the pivotal determinant. These hypotheses are evaluated according to their consistency with the empirical evidence. In particular, (1) the existence of many species with a constant, or almost constant, mortality rate, especially the so-called “animals with negligible senescence”; (2) the inverse correlation, observed in mammals and birds in the wild, between extrinsic mortality and the proportion of deaths due to intrinsic mortality; (3) the existence of highly sophisticated, genetically determined, and regulated mechanisms that limit and modulate cell duplication capacities and overall cell functionality. On the whole, the hypothesis of an adaptive meaning appears to be consistent with the empirical evidence, while the other two hypotheses hardly appear compatible.

Effect of mating on female phonotactic response in Gryllus integer (Orthoptera: Gryllidae)

1998 ◽  
Vol 76 (7) ◽  
pp. 1263-1268 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kelly Lickman ◽  
Anne-Marie Murray ◽  
William H Cade
Keyword(s):  
Single Stimulus ◽  
Field Cricket ◽  
Mating Status ◽  
Mating Preferences ◽  
Female Response ◽  
Mating History ◽  
Directional Movement ◽  
Male Calling ◽  
Female Mating Preferences ◽  
Gryllus Integer

Little work has examined the importance of the variation in mating preferences shown by individual females in a population. In acoustical insects, female response in terms of orientation and movement towards the male calling song is one aspect of female mating preferences. In this study, the effects of mating status on female phonotactic responses in the field cricket, Gryllus integer, were investigated. All test subjects were 10-14 days old and varied in their pretrial mating history. Mated females had copulated 24 h prior to testing. Virgin females, however, had visual, olfactory, and acoustical exposure to males during the pretrial matings of the mated females. Phonotactic responses were measured using a noncompensating treadmill called the kugel. Females were presented with simulated conspecific calling songs differing in trill length in either choice or no-choice protocols. Virgin females exhibited greater overall movement than mated females as well as increased directional movement in multi-stimulus presentations but not in single-stimulus presentations. Neither virgin nor mated females differentiated between the two songs differing in trill length. The data demonstrate that female G. integer phonotaxis is influenced, in part, by both mating status and the availability of mates.

Cellular reactions of the field cricket (Gryllus pennsylvanicus (Burmeister)) to Turgida turgida (Rudolphi, 1819) (Nematoda: Physalopteroidea)

1983 ◽  
Vol 61 (9) ◽  
pp. 2143-2146 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. B. Gray ◽  
R. C. Anderson
Keyword(s):  
Epithelial Cell ◽  
Epithelial Cells ◽  
Alimentary Tract ◽  
Field Cricket ◽  
Epithelial Layer ◽  
Gryllus Pennsylvanicus ◽  
Field Crickets ◽  
Cellular Destruction

Cellular reactions to infections of Turgida turgida (Rudolphi, 1819) in field crickets (Gryllus pennsylvanicus (Burmeister) (=Acheta pennsylvanicus Burmeister)) were studied. Most larvae reached the epithelial cells of the ileum. These larvae caused little cellular destruction or haemocytic response until 18 h after infection. Syncytia of epithelial cell origin had formed around larvae by 28 h after infection. Initially, each syncytium was surrounded by haemocytes and later, by a wall with two well-defined layers. The epithelial layer of the alimentary tract had regenerated beneath the capsule by 48 days. Occasionally larvae penetrated directly into the haemocoel and were surrounded by haemocytes and(or) became melanized.

scholarly journals Field crickets change mating preferences using remembered social information

2009 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 449-451 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathan W. Bailey ◽  
Marlene Zuk
Keyword(s):  
Theoretical Models ◽  
Female Mate Choice ◽  
Social Experience ◽  
Field Cricket ◽  
Field Crickets ◽  
The Social ◽  
In The Wild ◽  
Ornament Evolution ◽  
Male Ornaments

Plasticity in female mate choice can fundamentally alter selection on male ornaments, but surprisingly few studies have examined the role of social learning in shaping female mating decisions in invertebrates. We used the field cricket Teleogryllus oceanicus to show that females retain information about the attractiveness of available males based on previous social experience, compare that information with incoming signals and then dramatically reverse their preferences to produce final, predictable, mating decisions. Male ornament evolution in the wild may depend much more on the social environment and behavioural flexibility through learning than was previously thought for non-social invertebrates. The predictive power of these results points to a pressing need for theoretical models of sexual selection that incorporate effects of social experience.

scholarly journals Acoustic experience shapes female mate choice in field crickets

2008 ◽  
Vol 275 (1651) ◽  
pp. 2645-2650 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nathan W Bailey ◽  
Marlene Zuk
Keyword(s):  
Female Choice ◽  
Natural Populations ◽  
Hawaiian Island ◽  
Female Mate Choice ◽  
Field Cricket ◽  
Long Term Effects ◽  
Field Crickets ◽  
Male Calling ◽  
Morphological Mutation ◽  
Acoustic Experience

Female choice can drive the evolution of extravagant male traits. In invertebrates, the influence of prior social experience on female choice has only recently been considered. To better understand the evolutionary implications of experience-mediated plasticity in female choice, we investigated the effect of acoustic experience during rearing on female responsiveness to male song in the field cricket Teleogryllus oceanicus . Acoustic experience has unique biological relevance in this species: a morphological mutation has rendered over 90 per cent of males on the Hawaiian island of Kauai silent in fewer than 20 generations, impeding females' abilities to locate potential mates. Females reared in silent conditions mimicking Kauai were less discriminating of male calling song and more responsive to playbacks, compared with females that experienced song during rearing. Our results to our knowledge, are the first demonstration of long-term effects of acoustic experience in an arthropod, and suggest that female T. oceanicus may be able to compensate for the reduced availability of long-range male sexual signals by increasing their responsiveness to the few remaining signallers. Understanding the adaptive significance of experience-mediated plasticity in female choice provides insight into processes that facilitate rapid evolutionary change and shape sexual selection pressure in natural populations.

Female mating frequency and progeny production in singly and doubly mated house and field crickets

1980 ◽  
Vol 58 (3) ◽  
pp. 404-411 ◽  
Author(s):  
Scott K. Sakaluk ◽  
William H. Cade
Keyword(s):  
Acheta Domesticus ◽  
Field Cricket ◽  
Mating Frequency ◽  
Progeny Production ◽  
House Cricket ◽  
Additional Function ◽  
Field Crickets ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Time Required ◽  
Gryllus Integer

Many female insects mate more than once although the adaptive significance is often unclear. We studied the frequency of mating, the fate of the spermatophore, and progeny production of individual females as a function of single or double matings in the house cricket, Acheta domesticus, and the field cricket, Gryllus integer. Females of both species may mate repeatedly and often eat the externally attached spermatophore. In A. domesticus, doubly mated females produced significantly more offspring than did single maters, the difference resulting largely from the failure of 12.5% of the single maters to leave progeny. Singly and doubly mated G. integer did not differ regarding nymph production, but 50% of the singly mated females did not reproduce. Remating by female crickets partly functions in offsetting the probability of a failed initial mating. Nymph production increased significantly with the time the spermatophore was attached in singly mated A. domesticus. Spermatophore consumption by the female was not affected by male "guarding" behaviour, and the interval between mating and eating of the spermatophore may often be shorter than the time required for maximum insemination. It is suggested that acquisition of nutrition may be an additional function of female repeated matings.

Factors that possibly influence variation in the calling song of field crickets: temperature, time, and male size, age, and wing morphology

1992 ◽  
Vol 70 (5) ◽  
pp. 950-955 ◽  
Author(s):  
Konstantine Souroukis ◽  
William H. Cade ◽  
Gareth Rowell
Keyword(s):  
Hind Wing ◽  
Calling Song ◽  
Field Cricket ◽  
Wing Morphology ◽  
Wing Dimorphism ◽  
Field Crickets ◽  
Before And After ◽  
Increasing Temperature ◽  
Gryllus Integer ◽  
Temperature Time

The structure of the calling song of the Texas field cricket, Gryllus integer, was studied. Pulse rates, percentage of missed pulses within a trill, numbers of pulses per trill or trill lengths, and intertrill intervals were measured for males singing in the field and in the laboratory. All song parameters were variable and were distributed normally. Intertrill intervals were longer in the laboratory, but all other parameters were similar in laboratory and field populations. Pulse rates varied in a linear fashion with ambient temperature in the laboratory and field. The percentage of missed pulses in a trill decreased with increasing temperature in the field and in the laboratory; intertrill intervals varied inversely with temperature only in the field. In field populations, immediately before and after sunrise male songs had fewer pulses per trill and a greater frequency of missed pulses than songs produced for a few hours following sunset. Song structure did not vary with age, weight, or hind-wing dimorphism. Most song parameters were correlated with each other. The data are discussed in terms of female choice and attraction to male song, male competition by way of acoustical interaction, and underlying genetic variation in G. integer.

scholarly journals Balancing Selection on Electrophoretic Variation of Phosphoglucose Isomerase in Two Species of Field Cricket: Gryllus veletis and G. pennsylvanicus

Genetics ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 147 (2) ◽  
pp. 609-621
Author(s):  
Laura A Katz ◽  
Richard G Harrison
Keyword(s):  
Balancing Selection ◽  
Emergent Property ◽  
Phosphoglucose Isomerase ◽  
Field Cricket ◽  
Nucleotide Variation ◽  
Eastern United States ◽  
Electrophoretic Variation ◽  
Sympatric Populations ◽  
Field Crickets ◽  
Gryllus Veletis

Two species of crickets, Gryllus veletis and G. pennsylvanicus, share six electrophoretic mobility classes for the enzyme phosphoglucose isomerase (PGI), despite evidence from other genetic markers that the two species are not closely related within eastern North American field crickets. Moreover, the frequencies of the two most common PGI electrophoretic classes (PGI-100 and PGI-65) covary in sympatric populations of these species in the eastern United States, suggesting that PGI may be subject to trans-specific balancing selection. To determine the molecular basis of the electrophoretic variation, we characterized the DNA sequence of the Pgi gene from 29 crickets (15 G. veletis and 14 G. pennsylvanicus). Amino acid substitutions that distinguish the electrophoretic classes are not the same in the two species, and there is no evidence that specific replacement substitutions represent trans-specific polymorphism. In particular, the amino acids that diagnose the PGI-65 allele relative to the PGI-100 allele differ both between G. veletis and G. pennsylvanicus and within G. pennsylvanicus. The heterogeneity among electrophoretic classes that covary in sympatric populations coupled with analysis of patterns of nucleotide variation suggest that Pgi is not evolving neutrally. Instead, the data are consistent with balancing selection operating on an emergent property of the PGI protein.

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