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1 December 2011 Variations in Fuel use in the Flight Muscles of Wing-Dimorphic Gryllus firmus and Implications for Morph-Specific Dispersal
Bao-Chang Zhang, Cheng-Ji Jiang, Chun-Ju An, Qing-Wen Zhang, Zhang-Wu Zhao
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Abstract

Although a considerable amount of information is available on tradeoffs in wing-polymorphic insects, only limited data are available on the relationship between flight and biochemical variation within species. In the current study, we compared the biochemical basis in the dorsolongitudinal flight muscle of the wing-dimorphic sand cricket, Gryllus firmus Scudder, with respect to tradeoffs in energy resources related to morph-specific flight, including glycogen, trehalose, and triglycerides. Our results show that levels of glycogen and trehalose in long-winged adults (LW [f]) were significantly higher before dispersal, on days 5 and 7. Considering that this is the period during which long-winged adults are flight-capable, these results suggest that both glycogen and trehalose are important to flight. However, levels of triglycerides in short-winged crickets (SW) were higher than in long-winged crickets, suggesting that triglycerides are not directly related to initial flight. In SW adults, triglyceride content on days 5 and 7 was significantly higher just before lights off than at the same time on day 1 or at any other time after lights on all other days. This suggests that triglycerides are probably related to reproductive behaviors, such as mating and oviposition, in the SW morph. In addition, flight muscle water content was significantly lower in the LW(f) morph than in the SW morph.

© 2011 Entomological Society of America
Bao-Chang Zhang, Cheng-Ji Jiang, Chun-Ju An, Qing-Wen Zhang, and Zhang-Wu Zhao "Variations in Fuel use in the Flight Muscles of Wing-Dimorphic Gryllus firmus and Implications for Morph-Specific Dispersal," Environmental Entomology 40(6), 1566-1571, (1 December 2011). https://doi.org/10.1603/EN11070
Received: 8 March 2011; Accepted: 1 August 2011; Published: 1 December 2011
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KEYWORDS
glycogen
Gryllus firmus
trehalose
triglyceride
wing dimorphism
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