Mating behaviour of Hieroglyphus species (Hemiacridinae: Acrididae: Orthoptera) from Pakistan

A comparative study has been carried out on reproductive activities of three grasshopper species Hieroglyphus perpolita (Uvarov) Hieroglyphus oryzivorus Carl and Hieroglyphus nigrorepletus I. Bolivar at laboratory conditions. All the activities from maturation to copulation have been discussed. Average maturation period of male was 5.6 plus minus 0.9, 6.26 plus minus 1.48 and 6.13 plus minus 1.12 days for H. perpolita, H. oryzivorus and H. nigrorepletus respectively. Similarly for the females it was 8.13 plus minus 1.8, 10.93 plus minus 2.6 and 9.6 plus minus 1.59 days respectively. These values indicated that males mature earlier than female. Total mating duration was significantly highest in H. oryzivour (139.06 plus minus 55.36 hours) followed by H. nigrorepletus (70.86 plus minus 30.01 hours) and H. perpolita (9.93 plus minus 6.25 hours). Present study also showed that there was significant difference in the length of copulation and number of mating among these species. It was also observed that female required mating before each oviposition. However, prolonged copulation occurred in H. oryzivorus and H. nigrorepletus compared with H. perpolita which mates for short time and lives lesser. The reproductive activities were at its maximum in Hieroglyphus spp. from 2nd week of August to mid November. The longevity of males was recorded 26.46 plus minus 12, 46.86 plus minus 21.34 and 40.4 plus minus 16.10 days for H. perpolita, H. oryzivorus and H. nigrorepletus respectively, whereas in females it was 21.13 plus minus 4.79, 38.13 plus minus 15.29 and 35.93 plus minus 17.09 days indicating that males live longer than females. However, fecundity of females in these three species has been discussed in our previous paper.