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Life history traits determine the organismal abundance within a population and are affected by the presence of trade-offs that modify relationships between traits. These relationships can vary across different environments either by local adaptation or phenotypic plasticity. Reproductive traits have direct fitness implications and therefore are suitable to study among population variation linked to environmental differences. Factors such as altitude are often related to differences in key physical factors like ambient temperature or the subsequent duration of the suitable period for annual activity. The aim of this work was to compare reproductive investment in females of the field cricket Gryllus campestris originated from different altitudes, but without identifying the components (genetic vs. phenotypic) of the analysed variables. This species has an annual cycle; after a winter diapause, adults emerge to breed by early mid spring to produce a new generation of nymphs. The study used females collected at the start of the 2021 breeding season, from 10 populations living in the Cantabrian region (Northern Spain). Five of them were located in areas under 170m a.s.l. and the other five above 1100m. Females were allowed to mate with a male from the same population and to lay eggs that we then collected to estimate egg mass and laying rate; both traits were analysed controlling for female size. We found no effect of altitude on any of the three measured traits, female size, egg mass, and laying rate, as well as on the relationships between each pair or traits. Our results suggest that this species is tolerant to environmental variation for the measured traits, showing that it has mechanisms to cope with a range of ambient temperatures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: A trend to study entomological options as food is turning the practice of entomophagy into a novel research field in search for sustainable and accessible sources of nutrients. In this work, cricket (Gryllus assimilis) was processed into flour (CF), and then extracted using different solvents to obtain oils and defatted flours. The repeatability of CF obtention, its nutritional profile, and some of its physicochemical properties were studied. Results showed repeatability with a 28% mass yield for CF production. The CF presented adequate amino acid, mineral, and fatty acid profiles, a high content of dietary fibre, and low available carbohydrates, thus being considered a suitable alternative for inclusion in healthy human diets. Using data obtained from the total nitrogen content, the amino acid profile, and the total dietary fibre determinations, the CF protein digestibility was estimated at 67.4%. Based on experimental data, a mean nitrogen‐to‐protein conversion factor of 5.76 was calculated for a G. assimilis meal. The study showed that nutritional cricket flour and derivatives can be obtained using non‐sophisticated methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The field cricket, Gryllus madagascarensis, is a sustainable and nutritious food resource that has the potential to mitigate global malnutrition. Feeds provided to this cricket can influence its growth parameters, nutritional content, and the cost of raising it for food. The current study aimed to evaluate the effects of feeds formulated from weeds, agro-byproducts, and chicken feed (control) on the growth parameters and nutritional content of G. madagascarensis. The formulated feeds included CFB (25.0% protein), CFC (24.5% protein), CFD (24.0% protein), CFE (23.5% protein), CFF (22.5% protein), CFG (21.5% protein), CFH (20.0% protein), CFI (14.5% protein), and CFJ (13.5% protein), and chicken feed (CFA) (28% protein) was used as the control. The formulation of the feeds was based on the acceptability and protein content of the 12 selected weeds and agro-byproducts. Proximate, mineral, and fatty acid analyses were conducted to determine the nutrient content of each feed, as well as the crickets raised on these feeds. The fastest development time was recorded with CFE and CFC. The highest survivorship (98%) was observed in CFG, CFE, and CFC. The highest body mass (1.15 g) and body length (26.80 mm) were observed in crickets fed CFG. By comparison, crickets fed control feed averaged a body mass of 0.81 g and a body length of 23.55 mm. The feed conversion ratio for G. madagascarensis fed CFG, CFE, and CFC was 1.71. Crickets raised on CFH and CFG had the lowest cost of feeding per kg live mass gain. Crickets fed on CFF had the highest quantity of protein (67%), followed by those fed CFG (65% protein); crickets with the lowest protein content (50%) were fed CFJ. Crickets fed on CFG had the highest mineral content. Linoleic acid, oleic acid, and palmitic acid were the major fatty acids. The findings indicate that formulated feeds from weeds and agro-byproducts have great potential to be used as an alternative feed source for crickets for two reasons: their capacity to positively influence the biology and nutrition of the cricket, and they can serve as an inexpensive replacement for chicken feed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human-induced rapid environmental changes introduce animals to novel selection pressures that may impact how individuals allocate resources into life-history traits. One pervasive anthropogenic stressor, artificial light at night (ALAN), extends into remote areas and masks the day:night cycles to which animals are attuned. Here, we ask how animals use this environmental input to dictate their investment in survival and reproductive traits and whether they must trade off investment in these traits in female Gryllus veletis field crickets. Using the second generation of field-collected individuals from a location absent from ALAN, we reared females from the antepenultimate instar through adulthood in either a control environment or one with ALAN. We then measured their investment in survival through 2 aspects of immunity, encapsulation and lysozyme activity, and their reproductive investment as the number of eggs within a female. We found that ALAN reduced one aspect of immunity, lysozyme activity, and reproductive investment. Further, females reared in ALAN traded off investment in encapsulation and reproduction, a cost that was not present in females reared without ALAN. Our results suggest a 2-fold cost of ALAN on females: one on investment in individual traits and another on a trade-off between them. These maladaptive responses to ALAN could substantially impact natural populations in the short term, and whether populations could respond in the long term remains an open question. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Flight muscle histolysis is a widespread strategy used by insects to break down functional flight muscle and modulate the energetic costs associated with flight muscle use and maintenance. The variable field cricket, Gryllus lineaticeps , undergoes histolysis during their transition between dispersal flight and reproduction. Despite the importance of histolysis on insect reproduction and fitness, the molecular mechanisms driving this flight muscle breakdown are not well understood. Here, we show that beclin -mediated autophagy, a conserved lysosomal-dependent degradation process, drives breakdown of dorsal longitudinal flight muscle in female flight-capable G. lineaticeps. We found that female G. lineaticeps activate autophagy in their dorsal longitudinal flight muscle (DLM), but to a greater extent than the neighboring dorsoventral flight muscle (DVM) during histolysis. RNA interference knockdown of beclin , a gene that encodes a critical autophagy initiation protein, delayed DLM histolysis, but did not affect DVM histolysis. This suggests that crickets selectively activate autophagy to break down the DLMs, while maintaining DVM function for other fitness-relevant activities such as walking. Overall, we confirmed that autophagy is a critical pathway used to remodel flight muscle cells during flight muscle histolysis, providing novel insights into the mechanisms underlying a major life history transition between dispersal and reproduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to assess the effect of killing (blanching and freezing) followed by culinary processing on the microbiological quality of Tenebrio molitor and Gryllus assimilis. These insects were subjected to starvation before killing, which does not ensure sufficient microbiological safety. Therefore, technological or culinary processing of insects is necessary before consumption. For the subsequent processing of insects, boiling, drying, roasting, and microwave treatment were used. Nine categories of microbiological parameters were selected as indicators of hygienic quality. All identification and enumeration were performed using ISO-compliant methods. The results showed that killing insects by blanching or freezing alone does not ensure sufficient microbiological quality, and therefore, further culinary processing is necessary. However, all subsequent culinary treatments applied in this study were able to reduce the microbial load significantly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Female fecundity is dependent on age and mated status. Young female insects accumulate considerable fat stores to fuel energetically expensive ovary development and egg production. Consequently, younger females are expected to have more stored fat than older females while the latter should have larger eggloads than the former. Mating is expected to increase fecundity because male ejaculates contain fecundity-enhancing substances that stimulate egg development, ovulation and oviposition. We experimentally tested the effect of female age (young versus old) and mated status (virgin versus mated) on fat and eggloads in female Gryllus firmus field crickets (Orthoptera: Gryllidae), in addition to testing the prediction that young or mated females have higher resting metabolic rates (RMR) than old or virgin females because the former should be significantly more engaged in the energetically expensive activity of egg production than the latter. As predicted, we found that young females had more fat and fewer eggs than old females and that fat loads negatively correlated with fecundity across all females. Young females also exhibited higher RMR, as expected if egg production is energetically costly. Contrary to expectation, however, mated status had little effect on fat load, egg production or RMR. That mating had little effect on total egg production (i.e. stored and oviposited eggs) challenges the hypothesis that male fecundity-enhancing substances in the ejaculate stimulate egg production. Our experiment also permitted us to examine the validity of two popular indices of body condition, the scaled mass index (SMI) and residual body mass (R i). Neither index accurately represented the true treatment effects of age and mated status on fat load; however, the SMI reflected true fat content in young, but not old, females. • We tested effects of age and mated status on fat and eggloads in female Gryllus firmus. • Young females had more fat and fewer eggs than old females. • Fat loads were negatively correlated with fecundity across all females. • Young females had a higher resting metabolic rate (RMR) than old females. • Mated status had little effect on fat load, egg production or RMR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The order Orthoptera includes insects such as grasshoppers, katydids, and crickets, among which there are important species for ecosystem stability and pollination, as well as research organisms in different fields such as neurobiology, ecology, and evolution. Crickets, with more than 2,400 described species, are emerging as novel model research organisms, for their diversity, worldwide distribution, regeneration capacity, and their characteristic acoustic communication. Here we report the assembly and annotation of the first New World cricket, that of Gryllus longicercus Weissman & Gray 2019. The genome assembly, generated by combining 44.54 Gb of long reads from PacBio and 120.44 Gb of short Illumina reads, has a length of 1.85 Gb. The genome annotation yielded 19,715 transcripts from 14,789 gene models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the agricultural expanse of Sindh, Pakistan, this study explores Gryllidae species' taxonomic composition and geographic distribution, focusing on the Gryllinae subfamily within the Orthoptera order. Investigating nine distinct species - including Acheta domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758), Gryllus bimaculatus De-Geer, 1773, Gryllus campestris Linnaeus, 1758, Gryllodes sigillatus Walker, 1869, Gryllodes supplicans (Walker, 1859), Callogryllus ovilongus Saeed&Yousuf, 2000, Callogryllus saeedi (Saeed, 2000), Teleogryllus occipitalis (Serville, 1838), and Modicogryllus sindhensis Riffat, 2018-across six genera, the research unveils insights into the prevalence and diversity of Gryllidae in this agriculturally significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Different life‐history strategies can be employed to navigate the tradeoff between investment into reproductive and somatic tissues, and plasticity in life‐history strategies may be one of animals' most important tools to counter ongoing global change. Therefore, we factorially manipulated the availability of two critical resources – mates and food – to determine plasticity in life‐history investment strategies. We tested several hypotheses using females of the variable field cricket Gryllus lineaticeps because it exhibits a wing dimorphism that mediates a tradeoff between investment into ovary mass and dispersal (flight capacity) during early adulthood – long‐winged females' investment into flight muscle obligates reduced ovaries, while short‐winged females lack flight but instead heavily invest into ovaries. The availability of food and mates played different roles in the plasticity of life‐history strategies. Song exposure as a proxy for mate density exerted its strongest (negative) effects on somatic tissue and flight capacity. Meanwhile, food availability strongly influenced food intake, which exerted its strongest (positive) effects on reproduction. Raw traits of reproductive and somatic investment, such as ovary and non‐ovary mass gained, respectively, positively covaried; yet, reproduction‐soma relationships disappeared or became negative (i.e. characterizing tradeoffs) when resource (food) acquisition was accounted for. Thus, failure to account for food intake can lead to misdiagnoses of the plasticity of reproduction‐related tradeoffs. Further, the negative effect of flight capacity on ovary mass gain was dependent on male song (acoustic × flight interaction) and food availability (food × flight interaction). These were likely adaptive responses because they allowed flight‐capable females to invest heavily into reproduction when conditions for reproduction were favorable (i.e. abundance of food and mates). In sum, we uncovered multi‐directional effects among dispersal capacity, resource availability, and the plasticity of the tradeoff between investment into reproductive and non‐reproductive tissues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A new bush frog species is described from Yunnan, China, based on phylogenetic analyses, species delimitation analyses, and morphological comparisons. Raorchestes hekouensis sp. nov. is distinguished from all other congeners by a combination of 11 morphological characters. The new species brings the current number of Raorchestes species in China to ten, nine of which are distributed in Yunnan. Molecular analyses supported an unnamed lineage previously recorded as “Raorchestes gryllus” in northern Vietnam. Further studies including additional samples are necessary to clarify the species diversity and boundaries of Raorchestes in China and Indochina. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For animals that produce species‐specific audible sounds, environmental recordings combined with automated acoustic monitoring software (passive acoustic monitoring [PAM]) may be an effective monitoring tool because it allows audio data from many, widely distributed autonomous recording units (ARUs) to be processed in a relatively short period of time. Males of many insect species produce loud, species‐specific mating songs, yet acoustic insects have received less attention from PAM relative to vertebrates.We evaluated the use of PAM to monitor, Roeseliana roeselii (Orthoptera, Tettigoniidae), an acoustic insect that has expanded its range to Alberta, Canada, far outside its naturalized North American range. We analysed environmental recordings from ARUs: (1) at two control sites known to be occupied by R. roeselii and (2) across Alberta established by the Alberta Biodiversity Monitoring Institute (ABMI) to search for new populations.PAM successfully detected R. roeselii at the two control sites, but not at any of the 73 ABMI sites that we analysed. Despite the failure to detect new locations of R. roeselii, our analysis of ABMI environmental recordings detected several other species of acoustic insects, including Orchelimum gladiator, Gryllus sp. and Allonemobius spp.Our results add to the growing body of work showing the feasibility of using PAM for acoustic insects. We make suggestions for how to maximize the effectiveness of this monitoring tool for the conservation and management of singing insects in North America. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: The effect of replacing partially lean meat (21.7% protein, 4.5% fat) with cricket (Gryllus assimilis) flour (CF) in the physicochemical, technological and sensory properties of beef patties was evaluated. Four formulations were elaborated, a control with 66% w/w of beef (FC) and the others with substitution of the meat at 10 (F10%), 15 (F15%) and 20% w/w (F20%) levels with CF. Analysis of chemical composition, shrinkage, cooking yield, moisture and fat retention, pH, colour, lipid oxidation (TBARS), texture and sensory profile (Acceptance test and CATA questions) were performed. An increase in fat content, moisture and fat retention was observed in products with cricket flour. Adding CF resulted in softer meat products with lower shrinkage and cooking loss. FC was lighter and redder than products with CF. TBARS values were higher as CF addition increased, with no difference among FC and F10%. FC and F10% had greater sensory acceptance (scores above 8.0 and 7.0 for overall liking, respectively). By the CATA test consumers linked FC and F10% with the descriptors associated with overall liking, such as burger aroma, meat aroma and juicy and F15% and F20% were associated with undesirable descriptors such strange and unpleasant aroma, bad and dry appearance, sandy and crumbly. The results showed that cricket flour could replace beef by a fraction of up to 10%, obtaining a hybrid meat product with appropriate technological and sensory characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In tropical forests, herbivorous arthropods remove between 7% up to 48% of leaf area, which has forced plants to evolve defense strategies. These strategies influence the palatability of leaves. Palatability, which reflects a syndrome of leaf traits, in turn influences both the abundance and the mean body mass not only of particular arthropod taxa but also of the total communities. In this study, we tested two hypotheses: (H1) The abundance of two important chewer guilds ('leaf chewers' and 'rostrum chewers'), dominant components of arthropod communities, is positively related to the palatability of host trees. (H2) Lower palatability leads to an increased mean body mass of chewers (Jarman-Bell principle). Arthropods were collected by fogging the canopies of 90 tropical trees representing 31 species in three plots at 1000 m and three at 2000 m a.s.l. Palatability was assessed by measuring several 'leaf traits' of each host tree and by conducting a feeding trial with the generalist herbivore Gryllus assimilis (Orthoptera, Gryllidae). Leaf traits provided partial support for H1, as abundance of leaf chewers but not of rostrum chewers was positively affected by the experimentally estimated palatability. There was no support for H2 as neither leaf traits nor experimentally estimated palatability affected the mean body mass of leaf chewers. The mean body mass of rostrum chewers was positively related to palatability. Thus, leaf traits and experimentally estimated palatability influenced the abundance and mean body mass of chewing arthropods on the community level. However, the data were not consistent with the Jarman-Bell principle. Overall, our results suggest that the palatability of leaves is not among the dominant factors influencing abundance and mean body mass of the community of chewing arthropod herbivores. If other factors, such as the microclimate, predation or further (a-)biotic interactions are more important has to be analyzed in refined studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Toll signaling plays a crucial role in pathogen defense throughout the animal kingdom. It was discovered, however, for its function in dorsoventral (DV) axis formation in Drosophila. In all other insects studied so far, but not outside the insects, Toll is also required for DV patterning. However, in insects more distantly related to Drosophila, Toll's patterning role is frequently reduced and substituted by an expanded influence of BMP signaling, the pathway implicated in DV axis formation in all major metazoan lineages. This suggests that Toll was integrated into an ancestral BMP-based patterning system at the base of the insects or during insect evolution. The observation that Toll signaling has an immune function in the extraembryonic serosa, an early differentiating tissue of most insect embryos, suggests a scenario of how Toll was co-opted from an ancestral immune function for its new role in axis formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rearing density has profound effects on life-history decisions for developing organisms because, for example, it can foreshadow the sexual competitive environment potentially experienced in adulthood. Increased sexual competitiveness should favour greater investment in pre- or post-copulatory sexually selected traits such as weaponry or testes, while sexual-signaling traits that attract mates from a long distance should be favoured in low density populations. High density environments should also trigger density-dependent prophylaxis in which individuals increase their investment in immunity. In this study, we experimentally investigated the effect of rearing density on the adult expression of an immunological trait (i.e., melanization response) as well as pre- (i.e., mandible length, harp size) and post-copulatory (i.e., testis size) sexually selected traits in male Gryllus firmus crickets. We found that all morphological traits positively intercorrelated within each environment whereas melanization response was unrelated to any other measured trait. We also found that high-density males produced larger mandibles (weaponry), contrary to expectation, and stronger immunological responses (degree of melanization), in line with expectation, than their low-density counterparts. As predicted, low-density males produced larger harps, a trait involved in sexual signaling. Our results suggest that male G. firmus facultatively partition resources in a manner that maximizes fitness in the environment they expect to encounter as adults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Males that employ dynamic courtship displays to attract females may tactically adjust their courtship in response to their social environment. However, we know little about how sexual signals are adjusted in complex natural settings, where individuals are competing for attention against a backdrop of signals from nearby and distant rivals. We investigated this using data from the WildCrickets project, a wild population of field crickets, Gryllus campestris , continuously monitored via CCTV cameras. We used over a million scan samples from 129 males across 51 days to explore how the singing and proximity of other males influenced male singing behaviour. We first quantified the spatial network of the males to understand how the extent of singing overlap is affected by the distance between them, and found a moderate overlap across the whole population, regardless of distance. We then used a finer-grained analysis controlling for the effect of environmental variables. At distances greater than 1 m, we found a stimulatory effect of singing by other males on a focal male's singing behaviour, leading to males singing in the same time intervals. The overlap in singing became weaker as the distance between males increased. Conversely, we found that males were less likely to call when another male was singing very close by (within 1 m), suggesting an inhibitory effect. These findings reveal how, in a dynamic social network in a wild population, males perform fine-scale adjustments to their signalling behaviour in response to signalling by other males both nearby and far away. • How do males adjust sexual signalling in response to signalling rival male proximity? • Rival males calling 1–5 m from a male had a stimulatory effect on calling. • Rival males calling less than 1 m from a male had an inhibitory effect on calling. • There was an overlap in calling across all males likely due to environmental effects. • Males adjust sexual signalling in response to changes in their social environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hadal zone and Antarctic Ocean are two of the least-explored habitats. Knowledge about human impacts on these two extreme environments is limited. Here, we analyzed the metal accumulations of two amphipod species, Eurythenes gryllus, from the Mariana Trench (6040 m, 11.36° N, 142.41° E) in the West Pacific Ocean, and Pseudorchomene plebs, from the Ross Sea (600 m, 77.12° S, 167,67° E) in the Antarctic. Bioaccumulation of thirteen elements (Na, Mg, K, Ca, Cu, Fe, Al, Cr, Mn, Zn, As, Se, and Cd) in three tissues (exoskeleton, leg muscle, and gut) of the two amphipods was investigated using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Comparing the trace element concentrations between the different amphipoda species, we found higher element concentrations in the Antarctic amphipod, and an oligotrophication of the Mariana Trench. The concentrations of Cu, Zn, As, and Se in the three tissues all had a significant difference in abundance, and the Cd in the gut of P. plebs was comparably higher than that in E. gryllus, consistent with special environment adaptation. Compared with non-abyssal and shallow water decapoda and amphipoda species, hadal amphipods possessed comparably higher concentrations of Cd and Cr elements and displayed a very high environmental specificity for amphipods' metal-element bioaccumulation strategy. This study reveals the amphipods of remote and uncontaminated areas as potential indicator species for metal-element bioaccumulation to measure anthropogenic impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a phytosociological study of dry and mesophilous meadows and pastures in the Locarnese region (Insubria - Southern Switzerland). Seventy-one vegetation relevés were analysed using both hierarchical classification and nonmetric multidimensional scaling (NMDS) ordination. Seven main clusters were identified and described as follows: (i) xerophytic grasslands on sandy soil dominated by Koeleria macrantha; (ii) mesophilous meadows with Arrhenatherum elatius and Centaurea transalpina; (iii) semi-dry meadows with Chrysopogon gryllus; (iv) semi-dry grasslands with Carex fritschii and Thalictrum minus; (v) nutrient-poor Phyteuma betonicifolium-Festuca nigrescens montane zone grasslands; Nardus stricta grasslands dominated by (vi) Festuca paniculata or (vii) Carex pilulifera. From a phytosociological point of view, a new association named Phyteumo betonicifolii-Festucetum nigrescentis, classified into the Nardo strictae-Agrostion tenuis alliance was proposed. In addition, we confirmed the presence of the Holco-Chrysopogonetum grylli association, within the Bromion erecti, which up to now was provisional only. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sarcopenia and obesity are emerging as major social problems. In this study, we examined whether Gryllus bimaculatus (GB), an edible insect, prevents dexamethasone‐induced muscle atrophy (sarcopenia) or high‐fat diet (HFD)‐induced obesity in mice. We generated a standard chow diet (SCD) + GB (85% SCD and 15% GB powder) and HFD + GB (85% HFD and 15% GB powder). SCD + GB feeding increased gains in body weight and white adipose tissue (WAT). Despite no difference in weight change between HFD + GB‐ and HFD‐fed mice, HFD + GB feeding aggravated insulin resistance compared with HFD feeding. SCD + GB or HFD + GB feeding did not change most gene expressions in the liver and WAT but did increase MyHC1 expression in the muscle, meaning that GB increased muscle generation. Therefore, we fed SCD + GB with dexamethasone, which induces muscle degeneration. As a result, muscle fiber size increased, as did grip strength compared with dexamethasone‐injected mice. In addition, SCD + GB reduced the expression of muscle degradation factors, such as atrogin1 and muscle RING‐finger protein 1 (MuRF1). Furthermore, SCD + GB feeding increased Akt, mTOR, and p70S6K phosphorylation and MyHC1 expression, meaning that it may have increased protein synthesis. In conclusion, GB has great potential for inhibiting dexamethasone‐induced muscle mass loss by increasing muscle protein synthesis and inhibiting muscle protein degradation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Behaviour has the potential to retard evolutionary adaptation by equipping animals with the capacity to radically change their interactions with the environment without evolving. Despite this potential for plasticity, laboratory studies frequently identify among-population differences in responses to identical stimuli, suggesting that genetic adaption often reduces behavioural flexibility. However, laboratory environments are typically far removed from nature, so their relevance to the variation we might expect to see in the wild (either among environments or as a result of changes in climate) is unclear. This is a particularly acute issue in relation to behaviour because behaving in an optimal fashion requires animals to receive and process complex sensory information which may be disrupted by laboratory conditions. We translocated newly adult male field crickets, Gryllus campestris , from five high-altitude and five low-altitude populations into a single low-altitude meadow from which we had removed all naturally present males. By tagging every individual and employing a network of 140 video cameras we were able to record comprehensive behavioural information from early adulthood until death. This allowed us to directly compare the behaviour of individuals from populations known to be genetically divergent and adapted to either high or low altitudes. We found very limited evidence for an effect on behaviour of the altitudinal environment in which crickets had evolved and developed, despite the large scale of our study (>20 000 h of observations of 128 males). Our findings suggests that when provided with all the environmental cues present in their natural environment, local adaptation does not lead to substantial constraints on behaviour. This supports the hypothesis that the potential flexibility of behaviour may tend to reduce selection for local adaptation. • Behaviour may retard evolution by providing flexibility without adaptation. • Animals have some capacity to modify their behaviour according to environment. • However, animals from different environments often differ in behaviour. • We observed behaviour of crickets from high and low altitudes in a common meadow. • Limited differences suggest that flexible behaviour may reduce local selection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increase in the generation of organic waste and its mismanagement have a negative impact on the natural environment with the propagation of greenhouse gases, bad odors, leachate and other pollutants, so its use would bring a solution to the problems mentioned together with the generation of work, improvement of agricultural activity, the food industry, etc. The objective of the research was to minimize domestic organic waste using the species Gryllus assimilis. To do this, organic waste classified into three types (fruit-vegetables, food and the mixture of fruit-vegetables-food waste) was used. Tests were made with 100 g of residues and 15 repetitions for each type. For the reduction of residues, 200 Gryllus assimilis were used for each treatment and repetition. The reduction results were: for the first treatment 183 g, in the second treatment 187 g and for the third treatment 182 g, which on average means up to 18.7% reduction. Based on the results, it is established that the higher the number of Gryllus assimilis, the percentage of minimization of organic waste increases. In this way, this methodology constitutes a contribution to knowledge, has economic advantages and is easy to replicate in areas where Gryllus assimilis exists, with the possibility of scaling to achieve sustainable management of domestic organic waste. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to evaluate the effect of crickets enriched with a source of carotenoids on fish’s growth, colour, and total carotenoid content in juvenile Asian Arowana (Scleropages formosus). Six juveniles were fed with different enriched crickets (G. sigilatus) based on the following treatments: (A) Crickets fed with fish feed without enrichment, (B) Crickets fed with fish feed containing 500 ppm of synthetic astaxanthin, and (C) Crickets fed with a combination of 50% fish feed, 48% sand crab meal and 2% marigold petal meal. The results of the study revealed that The weight gain (WG), specific growth rate (SGR), feed efficiency (FE), length gain (LG), and survival rate (SR) for treatment A were 110 g, 1.16% head/day, 45.79%, 10.98 cm, and 100% respectively. There was also no significant difference (P>0.05) with the other treatments. However, treatment B had a positive effect on the redness (a*) of the Arowana tail with a value of 9.52, and treatment C increased the yellowness (b*) of the Arowana body with a value of 2.77 (P<0.05), which was different to the other treatments. There were no differences between any of the treatments concerning the effects on lightness (L*), chromaticity (C*), and hue (H*) on either the body or the tail. The astaxanthin enrichment produced the highest carotenoid content (P<0.05) with a value of 45.09 µg/g. Enriching crickets with astaxanthin influence colour and carotenoid content but not the growth of the Asian Arowana fish. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the experiment is to determine the staged annual mowing of a population of Pteridium acuilinum (harmful species), in a natural grass stand of Chrysopogon gryllus type. The results of the conducted research show a progressive reduction of the harmful species from the first to the last experimental years, ranging from 72.0-78.0 pcs. of plants/m2 (2014) up to 14.2-15.9 pcs. of plants/m2 (2019). A positive trend was established regarding the recovery of grass cover and an increase in the number of useful fodder species such as: Festuca arundinaceae Scherb, Agrostis alba L., Dactylis glomerata L., Trifolium hybridum L. and Chrysopogon gryllus L. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many organisms are capable of growing faster than they do. Restrained growth rate has functionally been explained by negative effects on lifespan of accelerated growth. However, the underlying mechanisms remain elusive. Telomere attrition has been proposed as a causal agent and has been mostly studied in endothermic vertebrates. We established that telomeres exist as chromosomal‐ends in a model insect, the field cricket Gryllus campestris, using terminal restriction fragment and Bal 31 methods. Telomeres comprised TTAGGn repeats of 38 kb on average, more than four times longer than the telomeres of human infants. Bal 31 assays confirmed that telomeric repeats were located at the chromosome‐ends. We tested whether rapid growth between day 1, day 65, day 85, and day 125 is achieved at the expense of telomere length by comparing nymphs reared at 23°C with their siblings reared at 28°C, which grew three times faster in the initial 65 days. Surprisingly, neither temperature treatment nor age affected average telomere length. Concomitantly, the broad sense heritability of telomere length was remarkably high at ~100%. Despite high heritability, the evolvability (a mean‐standardized measure of genetic variance) was low relative to that of body mass. We discuss our findings in the context of telomere evolution. Some important features of vertebrate telomere biology are evident in an insect species dating back to the Triassic. The apparent lack of an effect of growth rate on telomere length is puzzling, suggesting strong telomere length maintenance during the growth phase. Whether such maintenance of telomere length is adaptive remains elusive and requires further study investigating the links with fitness in the wild. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Animals' thermal sensitivities have long been characterized by thermal performance curves (TPCs) or reaction norms, and TPCs may predict animals' responses to climate change. Typically, TPCs are parameterized by measuring performance at a range of constant temperatures. Yet, animals encounter a range of thermal environments, and temperature variability is an aspect of climate change that may affect animals more than gradual warming. Daily temperature variability is particularly important for eggs in most taxa because they are highly sensitive to temperature and cannot behaviorally avoid stressful temperatures. Thus, the legacy of thermal conditions experienced during incubation may carryover to subsequent life stages. Here, I factorially manipulated mean temperature (20, 25, or 30 °C) and daily temperature range (DTR; ±0, 5, or 10 °C) during incubation for eggs of the variable field cricket (Gryllus lineaticeps) to integrate the role of DTR into the established paradigm of TPCs. Low DTR (±5 °C) was not generally costly, and it even improved hatchling starvation resistance (sensu hormesis). However, high DTR (±10 °C) reduced and delayed hatching at a warm mean temperature (30 °C). The effects of high DTR carried over to accelerate hatchling development at an expense to hatchling starvation resistance—therefore, thermal conditions during incubation can shape tradeoffs among important traits related to life history and stress tolerance later in life. In sum, animals may exhibit complex responses to their increasingly warmer, more thermally variable environments. • Daily temperature range (DTR) during incubation reduced thermal optima for embryos and hatchlings. • High (but not low) DTR (i.e., ±10 °C) was generally costly to embryos, particularly at a warm mean temperature (30 °C). • Thermal incubation conditions can carry-over to shape tradeoffs among life history traits and stress tolerance later in life. • Animals may exhibit complex responses to their increasingly warmer, more thermally variable environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

[Display omitted] • Dietary supplementation with Gryllus assimilis improved malnourished mice. • The cricket promoted body weight gain and reduced adiposity. • Gryllus assimilis positively modulated the expression of antihypertensive genes. Edible insects are recognized as promising food sources due to their nutritional composition. Some species, such as Gryllus assimilis , contain proteins, lipids, and carbohydrates of high biological value, which regulate several metabolic functions, including the Renin-Angiotensin System (RAS). In this context, the present study aimed to assess the effects of dietary supplementation with whole Gryllus assimilis powder on the metabolism of malnourished mice. Thirty-two male Swiss mice were used and divided into four treatment groups. The groups were identified as (AIN93-M); AIN93-M + Gryllus assimilis diet (AIN93-M + GA); AIN93-M + Renutrition diet (AIN93-M + REN) and AIN93-M + Renutrition diet + Gryllus assimilis (AIN93-M + REN + GA). The results showed that whole Gryllus assimilis powder inclusion promotes recovery from protein-energy malnutrition, reduces adiposity, and improves glucose tolerance and insulin sensitivity. It also reduces total cholesterol, triglycerides, VLDL, and adipocyte area. We also observed a significant increase in the expression of RAS-related genes, such as ACE2 and MasR, followed by a reduction in Angiotensinogen and ACE. The main findings of the present study suggest the use of black cricket as a viable strategy for the prevention and treatment of protein-energy malnutrition, as well as the reduction of adiposity, and improvement of lipid and glycemic parameters, with antihypertensive potential. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Growing of the potato plant in the western region of the Azerbaijan Republic for more than 200 years caused collection of the representatives in the fauna and flora concerning the different sorts in agrocenosis. An aim of the research is to work out fight measures integrated to the local condition against the pests in potato sowings of the zones above sea-level, specifying a sort structure, spreading area and biological features of the pests. The route observation-calculation works were performed by involving 30 % of agrocenosis for specifying the pests' sort structure in potato sowings of the western region in 2003-2022. Our researches showed that 31 sorts of the pests spread in potato sowings which are grown in the zones 850-900 meters above sea-level (Gryllotalpa gryllotalpa L., Gryllus desertus Pall., Dociostaurus maroccanus Thnb., Chaetocnema breviuscula Fald., Leptinotarsa decemlineata Say., Anisoplia leucaspis Cast, Melolontha pectoralis Germ, Agriotes gurgistanus Fald and others). An injury of the pests involves underground (mole cricket and wire worms) and surface (Colorado beetle and its larva) organs. 27 sorts of the pests were revealed in agrocenosis while descending 900-1000 meters above sealevel. During the researches aren't found in the zones above 1000 meters. Change of the pests' sort structures depending on geographical zone was determined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Male crickets emit acoustic signals (i.e., songs) by chirping using their forewings. Although the mechanisms and adaptive functions of these songs are well studied, knowledge about how songs develop within a generation is relatively scarce. Our previous work demonstrated a stable peak frequency at 5.7 kHz in the calling songs recorded from mature adult male crickets (Gryllus bimaculatus). In the present study, we monitored changes in the frequency component over time from the sexual maturity stage (early adult stage). We recorded 300 calling songs from a pool of 122 adults. The peak frequency distribution was lower and unstable (i.e., greater coefficient of variance) in the early adult stage. The mean peak frequency was 4.9 kHz on day 3, but gradually converged to 5.8 kHz over the 2-week adult stage. Immature adult males (emitting immature songs) produced an appropriately tuned song with a peak frequency of 5.8 kHz in an environment of 80% helium and 20% oxygen. These results suggest that the frequency component of the calling song is acquired during the early to mid-adult stage, and may be related to sexual maturation in males. Findings from the helium substitution experiment revealed that physical resistance from surrounding gas molecules negatively affect the stability of male singing, and that muscle development and forewing hardening may contribute to the maturation of singing, suggesting that females may adaptively select sexually mature males based on song traits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Edible insects as an alternative source of protein are gaining increasing attention, leading to new opportunities for their use in food processing. In this study, the functional properties, such as water and oil holding capacity, foaming, and emulsifying properties, of the most popular insect forms (flour, defatted flour, and protein preparations), such as Gryllus asimillis, Acheta domesticus, and Zophobas morio, were studied. Moreover, proximate analysis, protein extraction yield and efficiency, and sensory analysis, were evaluated. Defatting the flours yielded the highest protein content of all the insect forms tested, in the range of 70.51 to 76.02%, significantly reducing their calorific value by up to 35% for Z. morio. Generally, protein preparations exhibit the best functional properties among studied forms, and the most significant differences are noticeable in foaming capacity—near 30% higher than flours. Furthermore, all samples scored well in the sensory test (overall score 3.76–4.47) except for the Z. morio flour (2.93), which may exclude it from being used in the food industry. The results show that the insect forms studied, due to their good functional properties, can become a valuable component of food recipes, positively impacting the characteristics of the designed food. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of female choice in sexual selection is well established, including the recognition that females choose their mates based on multiple cues. These cues may include intrinsic aspects of a male's phenotype as well as aspects of the environment associated with the male. The role of the spatial location of a potential mate has been well studied in territorial vertebrates. However, despite their role as laboratory models for studies of sexual selection, the potential for insects to choose their mates on the basis of location has scarcely been studied. We studied a natural population of individually tagged crickets (Gryllus campestris) in a meadow in Northern Spain. Adults typically move between burrows every few days, allowing us to examine how pairing success of males can be predicted by the burrow they occupy, independent of their own characteristics. We observed the entirety of ten independent breeding seasons to provide replication and to determine whether the relative importance of these factors is stable across years. We find that both male ID and the ID his burrow affect the likelihood that he is paired with a female, but the burrow has a consistently greater influence. Furthermore, the two factors interact: the relative attractiveness of an individual male depends on which burrow he occupies. Our finding demonstrates a close interaction between naturally and sexually selected traits. It also demonstrates that mate choice studies may benefit from considering not only obvious secondary sexual traits, but also more cryptic traits such as microhabitat choice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Central place foraging field crickets are an ideal system for studying the adaptive value of learning and memory, but more research is needed on ecologically relevant cognition in these invertebrates. Here, we test the visuospatial place learning of Texas field crickets (Gryllus texensis) in a radial arm maze. Our study expands previous work on G. texensis cognition for accuracy measures and extends our previous findings on females to both sexes. Additionally, our study examines whether crickets use intra- or extra-maze cues to locate a food reward using a maze rotation that puts the cues in conflict. We found that male and female crickets improved performance over trials when measured by accuracy variables but not latency variables. Thigmotaxis negatively impacted performance in both sexes. In a reward-absent trial, both male and female crickets demonstrated place memory. When intra- and extra-maze cues conflicted during a rotation trial, crickets' performance was not better than chance. Our rotation results suggest that crickets may experience reciprocal overshadowing of conflicting cues – a result most often seen in other taxa with conflicting multi-modal cues. We conclude that crickets do not rely solely on: (1) a single-cue association, (2) route-following, or (3) their own scent cues to navigate the maze. Instead, male and female Texas field crickets seem to learn the location of the reward using a combination of proximal and distal cues. The possibility to test large numbers of wild-caught or laboratory-reared individuals opens the door to future investigations on the evolutionary ecology of visuospatial learning in these invertebrates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Animals are increasingly exposed to both artificial light at night (ALAN; a.k.a., ecological light pollution) and heat waves. Traditionally, the effects of ALAN and heat waves have been investigated in isolation, and results indicate mixed support for their costs to important decisions made at specific stages of reproduction (i.e., before, during, and after mating). Therefore, we used a factorial design to manipulate temperature and light conditions during adulthood in female variable field crickets (Gryllus lineaticeps) to determine (1) whether ALAN has stage-specific effects on reproductive decisions and (2) if ALAN effects on reproduction interact with a simulated heat wave. We found that ALAN simulating bright urban lighting promoted mating success, and a simulated heat wave resulted in even greater benefits to reproduction, including increased reproductive investment (ovary mass prior to mating), the efficiency by which food was converted into reproductive tissue, and reproductive output (number of eggs laid). Heat wave and ALAN did not modulate the effect of one another because we found no evidence of interactive (e.g., synergistic or antagonistic) effects of temperature and light treatments on any reproductive trait. Our study is the first to examine the combined effects of ALAN and heat waves across reproductive stages, and we found that these two increasingly common environmental factors may generally benefit reproduction in an insect. Significance statement: Animals are increasingly exposed to artificial light at night (a.k.a., ecological light pollution) and heat waves, but the combined effects of these two potential stressors are unknown. Therefore, we manipulated temperature and light conditions during adulthood in female variable field crickets (Gryllus lineaticeps) to examine effects across three important reproductive stages—before, during, and after mating. We found that ALAN simulating bright urban lighting promoted mating success, and a simulated heat wave resulted in even greater benefits to reproduction, including increased reproductive investment (ovary mass prior to mating) and reproductive output (number of eggs laid after mating). Our results indicate that these two increasingly common environmental factors may generally benefit reproduction in an insect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Physiological trade-offs among expensive fitness-related traits, such as reproduction and immunity, are common in life histories of animals. An immune challenge can have different effects on female reproduction mediated by resource allocation and acquisition. In this study, employing a widely used method to challenge the insect immune system (nylon implant), we assessed the effects of mounting a chronic immune response simulating three successive immune assaults on survival and reproduction of mated females of Gryllus assimilis. We also verified feeding behavior following an implantation, which can be important in explaining trade-off dynamics in terms of energy acquisition. For this, three experimental groups were designed (Control, Sham, and Implant) with oviposition rates, egg morphometry, and nymph vigour observed over 3 weeks, at which ovarian mass and unlaid eggs were quantified from remaining individuals. The results showed that chronic implants were detrimental to female survival and reproduction throughout the experiments; Surgical Sham had no effect on survival compared to the control, but did on reproductive aspects such as oviposition rates and hatchling vigour. These negative effects on reproduction in Sham disappeared in the last experimental week, but still strong in the implanted females. Such immune challenge affected the feeding behavior of implanted females by reducing food consumption compared to control after infection, which is probably explained by illness-induced anorexia that takes place to maximize the immune system performance as a part of sickness behavior, exacerbating the adverse effects observed on reproduction (i.e., fewer and smaller eggs, and low vigour of nymphs) and survival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: Asymmetry in bilateral structures occurs when animals experience perturbations during development. This fluctuating asymmetry (FA) may serve as a reliable indicator of the functional importance of a structure. For example, locomotor structures often display lower levels of FA than other paired structures, highlighting that selection can maintain symmetry in traits important for survival or reproduction. Species that have multiple distinct morphs with unique behaviors and morphologies represent an attractive model for studying the relationship between symmetry and function. The sand field cricket (Gryllus firmus) has two separate morphs that allow us to directly test whether individuals maintain higher levels of symmetry in the structures most vital for maximizing fitness based on their specific life strategy. Longwing (LW) individuals can fly but postpone reproduction until after a dispersal event, whereas shortwing (SW) individuals cannot fly but begin reproducing in early adulthood. We quantified FA across a suite of key morphological structures indicative of investment in growth, reproduction, and flight capability for males and females across the morphs. Although we did not find significant differences in FA across traits, as predicted, locomotor compensation strategies may reduce selective pressures on symmetry or developmental patterns may limit the optimization between trait form and function. Fluctuating asymmetry (FA) may serve as a reliable indicator of the functional importance of structures within an organism. Primary locomotor structures often display lower levels of FA than other paired structures, highlighting that selection can maintain symmetry in fitness-enhancing traits. Polyphenic species represent an attractive model for studying the fine-scale relationship between trait form and function, because multiple morphs exhibit unique life history adaptations that rely on different traits to maximize fitness. Here, we investigated whether individuals of the wing polyphenic sand field cricket (Gryllus firmus) maintain higher levels of symmetry in the bilateral structures most vital for maximizing fitness based on their specific life history strategy. We quantified FA and directional asymmetry (DA) across a suite of key morphological structures indicative of investment in somatic growth, reproduction, and flight capability for males and females across the flight-capable longwing (LW) and flight-incapable shortwing (SW) morphs. Although we did not find significant differences in FA across traits, hindwings lacked DA that was found in all other structures. We predicted that functionally important traits should maintain a higher level of symmetry; however, locomotor compensation strategies may reduce the selective pressures on symmetry or developmental constraints may limit the optimization between trait form and function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Adaptive plasticity often offsets the negative effects of rapid environmental change. However, anthropogenic stressors like noise and artificial light at night (ALAN) are often unlike those environments experienced ancestrally, making the resulting responses of individuals potentially maladaptive or less predictable. Further uncertainty stems from few studies exploring how the two anthropogenic stressors may interact to influence individual responses. Here we reared female Gryllus veletis field crickets in traffic noise, ALAN, both, or neither to assess how each environment impacted their development, mating behaviors, and reproductive output. We first found that anthropogenic stressors influenced female development in three ways: those reared in ALAN took longer to reach adulthood, females reared in traffic noise were smaller as adults, and females reared in traffic noise lived longer than those reared in both anthropogenic stressors. We then documented pronounced effects on their behaviors and fitness. Females reared in noise in any capacity were more responsive to advertising males and mated with them faster, and females reared in any anthropogenic stressor retained spermatophores longer. Perhaps more significantly, any anthropogenic stressor reduced the lifetime fitness of females through reduced oviposition, hatching success, both, or reduced offspring size at hatching. However, we did not find decreased fitness of females reared with both anthropogenic stressors relative to those reared with just one. Our results highlight how novel anthropogenic stressors may impact populations, but whether individuals can adapt may depend on an interplay between development, mating behaviors, and reproductive output. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Animals must acquire, use, and allocate resources, and this balancing act may be influenced by the circadian clock and life‐history strategy. Field (Gryllus) crickets exhibit two distinct life‐history strategies during early adulthood—flight‐capable females invest in flight muscle at a cost to ovary mass, whereas flight‐incapable females instead invest solely into ovaries. In female Gryllus lineaticeps, I investigated the role of life‐history strategy in resource (food) acquisition and allocation, and in circadian patterns of energy use. Flight capacity increased the standard metabolic rate (SMR) due to greater late‐day SMR and flight‐capable crickets exhibited greater circadian rhythmicity in SMR. Flight‐capable crickets also ate less food and were less efficient at converting ingested food into body or ovary mass. Thus, investment into flight capacity reduced fecundity and the amount of resources available for allocation to other life‐history traits. Given the increasing uncertainty of food availability in many global regions, work in Gryllus may clarify the important roles of food and circadian patterns in life‐history evolution in a changing world. Research Highlights: In a field cricket, investment into flight capacity (1) increased the circadian rhythmicity of resource use (standard metabolic rate), (2) reduced resource acquisition (food intake), and (3) reduced the efficiency by which ingested food was converted to reproductive tissue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Simple Summary: The demand for consumption of protein of animal and vegetable origin increases with the growth of the world population. Therefore, new sources of animal protein that are nutritious, safe and sustainable for the environment are needed. In this situation, edible insects become a very attractive alternative due to their high protein content, their good functional and biological properties, and their environmental sustainability. Insects as food are not attractive to consumers who do not have them incorporated into their food culture, but products derived from them are accepted by consumers and can be used as functional ingredients by the food industry. Insect protein isolates and concentrates can be used as functional ingredients. The main objective of this work was to obtain protein concentrate from cricket (Gryllus assimilis) flour to evaluate their functional and biological properties. In addition to characterizing its protein profile and digestibility. Edible insects can represent an alternative to obtain high-quality proteins with positive biological properties for human consumption. Cricket flour (Gryllus assimilis) was used to obtain cricket protein concentrate (CPC) using pHs (10.0 and 12.0) of extraction and pHs (3.0, 4.0, 5.0, and 6.0) of isoelectric precipitation (pI). Protein content, water and oil absorption capacity, protein solubility, antioxidant, and anti-inflammatory activities were determined. In addition, the protein profile was characterized by electrophoresis and the in vitro CPC digestibility was evaluated. Cricket flour presented 45.75% of protein content and CPC 12–5.0 presented a value of 71.16% protein content using the Dumas method. All samples were more soluble at pH 9.0 and 12.0. CPC 12–3.0 presented a percentage of water-binding capacity (WBC) of 41.25%. CPC 12–6.0 presented a percentage of oil-binding capacity (OBC) of 72.93%. All samples presented a high antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity. CPC 12–4.0 presented a value FRAP of 70,034 umol trolox equivalents (TE)/g CPC, CPC 12–6.0 presented a value ABTS of 124,300 umol TE/g CPC and CPC 10–3.0 presented a DPPH value of 68,009 umol TE/g CPC. CPC 10–6.0 and CPC 12–6.0 presented high anti-inflammatory activity, with values of 93.55% and 93.15% of protection, respectively. CPCs can be used as functional ingredients in the food industry for their excellent functional and biological properties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comparing the developmental mechanisms of segmentation among insects with different modes of embryogenesis provides insights on how the function of segmentation genes evolved. Functional analysis of eve by genetic mutants shows that the Drosophila pair-rule gene, even-skipped (eve), contributes to initial segmental patterning. However, eve orthologs tends to have diverse functions in other insects. To compare the evolutionary functional divergence of this gene, we evaluated eve function in a phylogenetically basal insect, the cricket Gryllus bimaculatus. To investigate the phenotypic effects of eve gene knock-out, we generated CRISPR/Cas9 system-mediated mutant strains of the cricket. CRISPR/Cas9 mutagenesis of multiple independent sites in the eve coding region revealed that eve null mutant embryos were defective in forming the gnathal, thoracic, and abdominal segments, consequently shortening the anterior-posterior axis. In contrast, the structures of the anterior and posterior ends (e.g., antenna, labrum, and cercus) formed normally. Hox gene expression in the gnathal, thoracic, and abdominal segments was detected in the mutant embryos. Overall, this study showed that Gryllus eve plays an important role in embryonic elongation and the formation of segmental boundaries in the gnathal to abdominal region of crickets. In the light of studies on other species, the eve function shown in Gryllus might be ancestral in insects. [Display omitted] • Genetic knock-out of the eve ortholog in Gryllus bimaculatus causes severe defects in the gnathal to abdominal segmentation. • Both null and hypomorphic mutants for Gryllus eve are described. • The suggested Gryllus eve function might be ancestral in insects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: True cricket is the popular name for representatives of the Gryllidae family. Gryllidae insects can damage agricultural crops such as wheat, maize, cotton and grasses. The purpose of this study was to identify the most effective plants as well as economic losses in the district of Mirpurkhas. Methods: A total of 626 specimens were captured as a consequence of this investigation from 07 various places in the District of Mirpurkhas. Gryllidae are phytophagous insects that eat a vast number of crops, in addition, crickets damage paper, clothing, carpets and furniture. The Standard Entomological technique and instruments were used to correctly identify cricket species. The taxonomic work was mounted, labeled and sorted properly. Result: As a consequence of this work during 2019-2020. 05 genera and 11 species with 01 subspecies belonging to 02 subfamilies of family Gryllidae were distinguished during the current examination. Out of these species, 01 species and 01 subspecies; Gryllus multipulsator and Gryllus (gryllus) assimilis assimilis subspecies were recorded for the first time from the area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Among-individual differences in behavior are now a widely studied research-focus within the field of behavioral ecology. Furthermore, elements of an animal's internal state, such as energy or fat reserves, and infection status can have large impacts on behaviors. Despite this, we still know little regarding how state may affect behavioral variation. Recent exposure to pathogens may have a particularly large impact on behavioral expression given that it likely activates costly immune pathways, potentially forcing organism to make behavioral tradeoffs. In this study we investigate how recent exposure to a common bacterial pathogen, Serratia marcescens, affects both the mean behavioral expression and the among-individual differences (i.e. variation) in boldness behavior in the field cricket, Gryllus integer. We find that recent pathogen exposure does not affect mean behavioral expression of the treatment groups, but instead affects behavioral variation and repeatability. Specifically, bacterial exposure drove large among-individual variation, resulting in high levels of repeatability in some aspects of boldness (willingness to emerge into a novel environment), but not others (latency to become active in novel environment), compared to non-infected crickets. Interestingly, sham injection resulted in a universal lack of among-individual differences. Our results highlight the sensitivity of among-individual variance and repeatability estimates to ecological and environmental factors that individuals face throughout their lives.

• Replacing soybean with rapeseed cake resulted in higher crude protein levels. • Gryllus assimilis fed rapeseed cake had lower amounts of palmitic acid. • Rapeseed cake is a suitable protein substitute in feed for Gryllus assimilis. This paper aimed to investigate the optimization of Gryllus assimilis farming production by examining the effects of replacing soybean meal with rapeseed cake (25–100%) and supplementing it with rapeseed oil. The results reveal no adverse effects of soybean meal replacement on the feed conversion ratio and weight of the harvested crickets. However, incorporating larger quantities of rapeseed cake into the diet increased crude protein and decreased fat content. Moreover, the composition of fatty acids varied significantly, with increased levels of oleic acid and decreased levels of palmitic acid, while a high rapeseed cake content led to a decrease in the atherogenic and thrombogenic index values. The amino acid composition remained unaffected. In conclusion, the study demonstrates that rapeseed cake can serve as a viable substitute for soybean meal in the diet of Gryllus assimilis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the concept of novel food, insects reared under controlled conditions are considered mini livestock. Mass-reared edible insect production is an economically and ecologically beneficial alternative to conventional meat gain. Regarding food safety, insect origin ingredients must comply with food microbial requirements. House crickets (Acheta domesticus) and Jamaican field crickets (Gryllus assimilis) are preferred insect species that are used commercially as food. In this study, we examined cricket-associated bacterial communities using amplicon-based sequencing of the 16S ribosomal RNA gene region (V3–V4). The high taxonomic richness of the bacterial populations inhabiting both tested cricket species was revealed. According to the analysis of alpha and beta diversity, house crickets and Jamaican field crickets displayed significantly different bacterial communities. Investigation of bacterial amplicon sequence variants (ASVs) diversity revealed cricket species as well as surface and entire body-associated bacterial assemblages. The efficiency of crickets processing and microbial safety were evaluated based on viable bacterial counts and identified bacterial species. Among the microorganisms inhabiting both tested cricket species, the potentially pathogenic bacteria are documented. Some bacteria representing identified genera are inhabitants of the gastrointestinal tract of animals and humans, forming a normal intestinal microflora and performing beneficial probiotic functions. The novel information on the edible insect-associated microbiota will contribute to developing strategies for cricket processing to avoid bacteria-caused risks and reap the benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The strategic allocation of resources into immunity poses a unique challenge for individuals, where infection at different stages of development may result in unique trade‐offs with concurrent physiological processes or future fitness‐enhancing traits. Here, we experimentally induced an immune challenge in female Gryllus firmus crickets to test whether illness at discrete life stages differentially impacts fitness. We injected heat‐killed Serratia marcescens bacteria into antepenultimate juveniles, penultimate juveniles, sexually immature adults, and sexually mature adults, and then measured body growth, instar duration, mating rate, viability of stored sperm, egg production, oviposition rate, and egg viability. Immune activation significantly impacted reproductive traits, where females that were immune challenged as adults had decreased mating success and decreased egg viability compared to healthy individuals or females that were immune challenged as juveniles. Although there was no effect of an immune challenge on the other traits measured, the stress of handling resulted in reduced mass gain and smaller adult body size in females from the juvenile treatments, and females in the adult treatments suffered from reduced viability of sperm stored within their spermatheca. In summary, we found that an immune challenge does have negative impacts on reproduction, but also that even minor acute stressors can have significant impacts on fitness‐enhancing traits. These findings highlight that the factors affecting fitness can be complex and at times unpredictable, and that the consequences of illness are specific to when during an individual's life an immune challenge is induced. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Life history and metabolism covary, but the mechanisms and individual traits responsible for these linkages remain unresolved. Dispersal capability is a critical component of life history that is constrained by metabolic capacities for energy production. Conflicting relationships between metabolism and life histories may be explained by accounting for variation in dispersal and maximal metabolic rates. We used female wing‐polymorphic sand field crickets, Gryllus firmus, selected either for long wings (LW, flight‐capable) or short wings (SW, flightless) to test the hypothesis that selection on dispersal capability drives the evolution of metabolic capacities. While resting metabolic rates were similar, long‐winged crickets reached higher maximal metabolic rates than short‐winged crickets, resulting in improved running performance. We further provided insight into the mechanisms responsible for covariation between life history and metabolism by comparing mitochondrial content of tissues involved in powering locomotion and assessing the function of mitochondria isolated from long‐ and short‐winged crickets. Our results demonstrated that larger metabolic capacities in long‐winged crickets were underpinned by increases in mitochondrial content of dorsoventral flight muscle and enhanced bioenergetic capacities of mitochondria within the fat body, a tissue responsible for fuel storage and mobilization. Thus, selection on flight capability correlates with increases in maximal, but not resting metabolic rates, through modifications of tissues powering locomotion at the cellular and organelle levels. This allows organisms to meet high energetic demands of activity for life history. Dispersal capability should therefore explicitly be considered as a potential factor driving the evolution of metabolic capacities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the period 2013-2015, a field experiment was conducted on a natural grassland of Chrysopogon gryllus L. type, fertilized with phosphorus humate, boron and molybdenum humate and their combination. On the basis of the obtained yield, on average for the study period, economic indicators were determined and correlation dependences, economic efficiency and regression equations were calculated. It was found that fertilizing with humate biofertilizers showed a high positive correlation dependence between dry matter yield and gross income (r = 1.0000); cost price and production costs (r = 0.9708); profitability with gross profit (r = 0.8241). The coefficient of determination R² = 0.9675 of the very good regression dependence between production costs and cost price is high enough to represent the regression dependence equation (y = 150.72х + 1.5118). The high coefficient of economic efficiency in fertilizing with boron humate (2.90) gives grounds for the application of fertilizer for practical purposes in mass production of fodder in a natural meadow of Chrysopogon gryllus L type. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the modern synthesis, mating signals were thought of principally as species recognition traits, a view later challenged by a burgeoning interest in sexual selection—specifically mate choice. In the 1990s, these different signal functions were proposed to represent a single process driven by the shape of female preference functions across both intra- and interspecific signal space. However, the properties of reliable 'recognition' signals (stereotyped; low intraspecific variation) and informative 'quality' signals (condition dependent; high intraspecific variation) seem at odds, perhaps favouring different signal components for different functions. Surprisingly, the idea that different components of mating signals are evaluated in series, first to recognize generally compatible mates and then to select for quality, has never been explicitly tested. Here I evaluate patterns of (i) intraspecific signal variation, (ii) female preference function shape and (iii) phylogenetic signal for male cricket call components known to be processed in series. The results show that signal components processed first tend to have low variation, closed preference functions and low phylogenetic signal, whereas signal components processed later show the opposite, suggesting that mating signal evaluation follows an 'order-of-operations'. Applicability of this finding to diverse groups of organisms and sensory modalities is discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]