Geometric morphometrics of three species of the genus Dociostaurus (Orthoptera: Acrididae) from the Middle Atlas of Morocco

The genus Dociostaurus includes at least five species in the Mediterranean Basin. Some of them can damage agricultural fields and pastures. However, these species are almost not characterised by quantitative traits. To fill this gap, we used the geometric morphometrics method to characterise different morphological structures and flying organs of the most observed species of the genus Dociostaurus, namely D. maroccanus (Thunb, 1815), D. dantini (Bolivar, 1914), and D. genei (Ocskay, 1832), in Morocco. Results revealed that D. maroccanus has greater dispersal structures and other body organs, which are suggested to play a direct role in flying performance. On the contrary, D. dantini and D. genei, known as wandering species, have tiny structures, principally the tegmina and wings used for limited flights. In addition to their importance in the characterisation of studied species, these measurements could be used as a practical tool in their identification, particularly where the use of genetic approaches is not possible. Similarly, these results could serve as the first data for the implementation of potential comparative studies and population management of these pest species, especially D. maroccanus. Finally, further morphometric studies will be needed to create a database for taxonomic identification.

[1]  T. Dubois,et al.  Global overview of locusts as food, feed and other uses , 2021, Global Food Security.

[2]  J. Dujardin,et al.  Landmark Data to Distinguish and Identify Morphologically Close Tabanus spp. (Diptera: Tabanidae) , 2021, Insects.

[3]  El Ghadraoui Lahsen,et al.  Preliminary Study of the Intestinal Microbial Diversity of Three Acridoidae: Oedipoda fuscocincta, Dociostaurus moroccanus, and Calliptamus barbarus (Acrididae: Orthoptera), in the Moroccan Middle Atlas , 2021, Indian Journal of Microbiology.

[4]  J. Lockwood,et al.  A Swarm of Injustice: A Sociopolitical Framework for Global Justice in the Management of the Desert Locust , 2021, Agronomy.

[5]  Mohamed El Hacen Jaavar,et al.  Adult Desert Locust Swarms, Schistocerca gregaria, Preferentially Roost in the Tallest Plants at Any Given Site in the Sahara Desert , 2020, Agronomy.

[6]  J. Socha,et al.  Circulation In Insect Wings. , 2020, Integrative and comparative biology.

[7]  S. Jaronski,et al.  Control of Pest Grasshoppers in North America , 2020, Insects.

[8]  N. Haunerland,et al.  Effects of FABP knockdown on flight performance of the desert locust, Schistocerca gregaria , 2019, Journal of Experimental Biology.

[9]  D. Adriaens,et al.  Use of three-dimensional geometric morphometrics for the identification of closely related species of Caucasian rock lizards (Lacertidae: Darevskia) , 2018, Biological Journal of the Linnean Society.

[10]  G. Pass.  Beyond aerodynamics: The critical roles of the circulatory and tracheal systems in maintaining insect wing functionality. , 2018, Arthropod structure & development.

[11]  Caroline R. Szczepanski,et al.  Variation of Goliathus orientalis (Moser, 1909) Elytra Nanostructurations and Their Impact on Wettability , 2018, Biomimetics.

[12]  P. J. Cordero,et al.  A review of cross‐backed grasshoppers of the genus Dociostaurus Fieber (Orthoptera: Acrididae) from the western Mediterranean: insights from phylogenetic analyses and DNA‐based species delimitation , 2018 .

[13]  Mauro Toledo Marrelli,et al.  Morphometric Wing Characters as a Tool for Mosquito Identification , 2016, PloS one.

[14]  D. Petit,et al.  Description of Dociostaurus biskrensis sp. nov. and male allotypes of four species: Pamphagulus bodenheimeri dumonti, P. uvarovi, Sphingonotus ebneri and Notopleura pygmaea (Orthoptera: Acridoidea) in the region of Biskra, Algeria. , 2014, Zootaxa.

[15]  A. Mol,et al.  New species and new song record of the genus Dociostaurus Fieber, 1853 (Orthoptera, Acrididae, gomphocerinae) from southern Anatolia, Turkey. , 2013, Zootaxa.

[16]  D. Petit,et al.  Dietary diversification and variations in the number of labrum sensilla in grasshoppers: Which came first? , 2013, Journal of Biosciences.

[17]  A. Lombarte,et al.  Comparison of different otolith shape descriptors and morphometrics for the identification of closely related species of Lutjanus spp. from the Persian Gulf , 2012 .

[18]  Z. Dai,et al.  Macro-/micro-structures of elytra, mechanical properties of the biomaterial and the coupling strength between elytra in beetles , 2010 .

[19]  JiuRong Sun,et al.  Coupling between elytra of some beetles: Mechanism, forces and effect of surface texture , 2008, Science in China Series C: Life Sciences.

[20]  Martin Drauschke,et al.  Identification of Africanized honey bees through wing morphometrics: two fast and efficient procedures , 2008, Apidologie.

[21]  V. Savitsky.  New data on acoustic communication and ecology of grasshoppers of the genera Eremippus and Dociostaurus (Orthoptera, Acrididae) and notes on the use of bioacoustic data in supraspecific taxonomy of the subfamily Gomphocerinae , 2007, Entomological Review.

[22]  B. Doumandji-mitiche,et al.  Influence of anthropogenic impact on the habitats and swarming risks of Dociostourus morocconus and Locusto migratoria (Orthoptera, Acrididae) in the Algerian Sahara and the semiarid zone , 2002 .

[23]  L. E. Ghadraoui,et al.  Relationship between labrum sensilla number in the Moroccan locust Dociostaurus maroccanus and the nature of its diet , 2002 .

[24]  J. L. Bella,et al.  Heterochromatin differentiation between two species of the genus Dociostaurus (Orthoptera: Acrididae) , 1993, Heredity.

[25]  B. Uvarov.  Ecological Studies on the Moroccan Locust in Western Anatolia , 1932 .

[26]  A. Basiouny,et al.  Effect of insect growth regulator, chromafenozide on the food consumption and metabolic efficiencies of the desert locust , 2021 .

[27]  P. Fontana,et al.  Endemism in Italian Orthoptera , 2019 .

[28]  A. Lazraq,et al.  Altitudinal effect and its ecological influence on population dynamics of locust, Dociostaurus maroccanus (Thunberg, 1815) in the Moroccan Middle Atlas , 2017 .

[29]  S. Pincebourde,et al.  Plant–Insect Interactions in a Changing World , 2017 .

[30]  L. E. Ghadraoui,et al.  Richesse spécifique en Orthoptères Acridiens du Moyen Atlas marocain Locusts Grasshoppers species richness of the Moroccan Middle Atlas , 2014 .

[31]  F. Baldacchino,et al.  Evaluating the spatial distribution of Dociostaurus maroccanus egg pods using different sampling designs , 2012 .

[32]  D. K. Weaver,et al.  Grasshoppers and locusts , 2007 .

[33]  Boris Uvarov,et al.  Anatomy, physiology, development phase polymorphism introduction to taxonomy , 1966 .

[34]  Herbert Spencer.  Preliminary. , 2022, Political Institutions.