The role of the foregut in digestion in the cricket Teleogryllus commodus and the locust Chortoicetes terminifera
ShangXian Zhou A , James D. Woodman B , Hua Chen C and Paul D. Cooper
A D
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations
A Ecology and Evolution, Research School of Biology, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia.
B Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment, GPO Box 858, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia.
C Centre for Advanced Microscopy, The Australian National University, Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia.
D Corresponding author. Email: paul.cooper@anu.edu.au
Australian Journal of Zoology 68(4) 212-221 https://doi.org/10.1071/ZO20092
Submitted: 13 November 2020 Accepted: 28 July 2021 Published: 26 August 2021
Abstract
The role of the foregut (crop and proventriculus) in mechanical processing of food has received little attention in insects. Using the Australian plague locust (Chortoicetes terminifera) and the black field cricket (Teleogryllus commodus) as models, the role of the crop in processing of wheat or rye grass was examined. Interior cuticular structures (spines) of the foregut were described using light and scanning electron microscopy, with locusts having sclerotised structures and crops of crickets being unsclerotised internally. Muscular bands on the exterior surface of the crop part of the foregut are similar in males of both species, but contractions and movements are more forceful in locusts. Passage rate from the foregut is much faster in locusts (<3 h) than in crickets (>3 h). Water within the crop is reduced compared with the water content of fresh grass within the foregut of locusts, but water is increased in cricket crops. Spines within the crops are small relative to the size of food particles in both species. Some spines of locusts contain metals. The slower passage rate from the crop of crickets may be limited by the proventriculus. Foregut structure and food processing facilitates the generalist diet of crickets, but may restrict locusts to consuming softer grasses.
Keywords: Orthoptera, physiology, morphology, digestion, passage rate, cuticular nanostructures.
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