Males protecting their mates provide a convenient temporal sun shield as a parasol for egg-laying females. Illustration credit: Koutaro Ould Maeno. Credit: Ecology (2024). DOI: 10.1002/ecy.4416
A team of entomologists from the Mauritanian Center National de Lutte Antiacridienne discovered that male locusts mount a female when she lays eggs during the heat of the day.
In their study, published in the journal Ecologythe group led field expeditions and performed experiments to test thermal protection against male locusts.
Previous research and anecdotal evidence has shown that locust swarms can decimate large areas of cropland in a short time and they reproduce quickly. Some research has also suggested that while females typically lay their eggs in the evening, when it is cooler outside, some have been observed doing so during the warm hours of the day.
The researchers wondered how the females could achieve such a feat and to find out, they made several trips around the Sahara at times when locusts were swarming. They observed that males would mount females as if to mate while they were laying eggs, but only during the day. Similar behavior was observed in male grasshoppers at night, where this behavior was found to prevent other males from interfering with females laying eggs.
To make sure it wasn’t a random event, the researchers looked for pairs at times when the desert floor reached 48°C. Under such conditions, they found that about 90% of females were mounted by males. They also noted that the couples moved in tandem as the sun moved across the sky, remaining parallel to its rays. The use of thermal cameras showed that the bodies of the females were colder than those of the few unmounted females.
The researchers also conducted a simple experiment: they stuck dead locusts on sticks and tied them to the ground, some in pairs, others singly. By recording the body temperatures of dead locusts, they discovered that their bodies served as a shield against the heat of the sun: those below were colder.
The research team suggests that their findings could lead to new pesticide strategies to combat locust infestations, thereby preventing crop loss.
More information:
Koutaro Ould Maeno et al, Male locusts guarding their partners act as a parasol for egg-laying females in an extremely hot desert environment, Ecology (2024). DOI: 10.1002/ecy.4416
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