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Survival and mortality of grasshopper egg pods in semi-arid cereal cropping areas of northern Benin

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 July 2009

P.A. Shah ,
I. Godonou ,
C. Gbongboui ,
A. Hossou  and
C.J. Lomer
P.A. Shah*
Affiliation:
Institute of Microbiology, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, LFV E14, ETH-Zentrum, CH-8092 Zurich, Switzerland International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Plant Health Management Division, Cotonou, BP 08–0932, Republic of Benin
I. Godonou
Affiliation:
International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Plant Health Management Division, Cotonou, BP 08–0932, Republic of Benin
C. Gbongboui
Affiliation:
International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Plant Health Management Division, Cotonou, BP 08–0932, Republic of Benin
A. Hossou
Affiliation:
Service Protection des Végétaux, Porto Novo, BP 58, Republic of Benin
C.J. Lomer
Affiliation:
International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, Plant Health Management Division, Cotonou, BP 08–0932, Republic of Benin
*
* Fax: + 41 1 632 1148 E-mail: shah@micro.biol.ethz.ch
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Abstract

Surveys of egg pods of agriculturally important grasshoppers were carried out in northern Benin between 1992 and 1995. Searches were made of oviposition sites under shrubs of the perennial legume Piliostigma thonningi along field margins. In 1993 and 1995, surveys were extended to include sorghum, Sorghum bicolor, and the perennial thatch grass Vetiveria nigritana. The four principal grasshopper species found at these oviposition sites were Hieroglyphus daganensis Krauss, Cataloipus fuscocoeruleipes Sjöstedt, Kraussaria angulifera (Krauss) and Tylotropidius gracilipes Brancsik comprising 86% of 4545 identified egg pods while 651 egg pods could not be identified to species level. Predation by meloid beetles (Epicauta, Mylabris and Psalydolytta spp.) varied between 0 and 50% for the four dominant grasshopper species. From 1993 and 1994 data, nymphal eclosion from egg pods damaged by meloids was significantly lower than emergence from undamaged egg pods. The hymenopterous parasitoids Scelio africanus Risbec and S. mauriticanus Risbec were reared from the four dominant grasshopper species and parasitism levels of 0.0–3.3% were recorded from these hosts. There were significant differences in nymphal emergences between parasitized and unparasitized egg pods of H. daganensis.

Type
Research Article
Information
Bulletin of Entomological Research , Volume 88 , Issue 4 , August 1998 , pp. 451 - 459
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1998

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