The Influence of Date of Oviposition and Climatic Conditions on Hatching of Camnula pellucida (Scudder) (Orthoptera: Acrididae)

Abstract

Field and laboratory hatching experiments were conducted from 1960 through 1963 with eggs of Camnula pellucida (Scudder) laid in field cages and collected at fortnightly intervals. Before freeze-up, embryonic development usually reached prediapause level in all eggs laid before the middle of August; these eggs were the first to hatch when incubated in the laboratory or when left in the soil outdoors. Eggs laid later than mid-August showed progressively less embryonic development and consequently hatched later. Viability was highest in eggs laid during the latter half of August; those laid early in the season often suffered from desiccation because of their long exposure to dry soil conditions; those laid towards the end of the season showed declining viability caused, apparently, by low temperatures. The percentage hatch was relatively high in eggs laid before the end of August but declined progressively thereafter; those laid in October rarely hatched. Seasonal hatching patterns were largely dependent upon weather conditions; such patterns were rapidly completed when an extended period of hot, dry weather continued through the hatching period, but often extended intermittently over a month or more when weather was unsettled. The typical diurnal hatching pattern, which also closely followed the temperature regime, commenced in the morning at 0900–1000 hours as soil temperatures exceeded 65°F., rising to a peak about 1100–1200 hours when temperatures reached 85°F., and then generally declined during the afternoon. However, during rapidly changing weather conditions hatching frequently started and stopped as skies cleared and again clouded over. Winter kill occasionally may be an important factor in reducing populations, especially when snow cover is removed by a mid-winter thaw and sub-zero temperatures follow.