The time course of behavioural phase change in the Central American locust Schistocerca piceifrons.

ABSTRACT: Locusts exhibit an extreme form of phenotypic plasticity and can exist as two alternative phenotypes, known as solitarious and gregarious phases. These phases, which can transform from one to another depending on local population density, show distinctly different behavioural characteristics. The proximate mechanisms of behavioural phase polyphenism have been well studied in the desert locust Schistocerca gregaria and the migratory locust Locusta migratoria, and what is known in these species is often treated as a general feature of locusts. However, this approach might be flawed, given that there are approximately 20 locust species that have independently evolved phase polyphenism. Using the Central American locust Schistocerca piceifrons as a study system, we characterised the time cours

SUBMITTER: Foquet B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9789408 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature