Morphological characterization of the proventriculus of Gryllus assimilis Fabricius (Orthoptera, Gryllidae)

Abstract

ABSTRACT. The proventriculus morphology of the cricket G/y//us assimilis Fabricius, 1775 is described using scanning electron microscopy and the con'elation ofthis structure with the feeding habits briefly considered.KEY WORDS. Orthoptera, Glyllidae, Gry//us, proventriculus ln general, the digestive tube ofthe insects can be divided into three areas: the foregut or stomodeum, the midgut or ventriculus and the hindgut or proctodeum. Its morphological diversity has lead several authors to use it as a systematic and phylogenetic character in several groups (MORTINER 1965; SINGH & JUDD 1966;GRANT & RENTZ 1967; DELIGNE 1971;BORDAS 1896 BORDAS , 1898.The foregut is made up ofthe pharynx, esophagus, crop, and proventriculus or gizzard. The last structure is of great taxonomic interest, since it is intimately associated with the insect feeding habit, that can be highly species specific.The proventriculus is a transition area between the foregut and midgut and like the remainder ofthe anterior intestine, has an ectodermal origin and possesses a sclerotized intima. It presents ali the stages of development, varying from a simple valve formed by fine cuticle, to a strong muscular organ, armed with spines and teeth, having as a main function the grinding of food .Many studies have been accomplished to recognize relationships between the morphology ofthe proventriculus and the alimentary habits ofinsects. LEBRUN (1985) and LEBRUN & LEQUET (1985), showed that the proventriculus of termites that feed on wood has a cuticular armor formed by strong teeth and sclerotized plates, while those that feed on decomposed wood do not present teeth and the plates are less developed. ln the humus eating termites, the armor ofthe proventriculus is weak and only small plates are present. GIBBS (1967) also observed variations in the structure of the proventriculus of nine species of Trichoptera, demonstrating that the proventriculus can perform in the grinding or filtering of food.JUDD (1948) studied comparatively several families of ensiferans Orthoptera and elaborated a key to identify the families and orders, using the proventriculus and the gastric caecum as characters oftaxonomic value.

Omnivory in Terrestrial Arthropods: Mixing Plant and Prey Diets

“…The morphology of the digestive tract and its relation to feeding habits have been studied to a lesser extent than the mouthparts. Comparative studies of the functional morphology of arthropods' digestive apparatus include coleopterans (66,114), orthopterans (65,124), soil-dwelling insects (73), and a number of mite orders (6,52). Generally, carnivorous arthropods have a more chitinized and toothed armature in the foregut and a simpler, shorter, and less differentiated midgut in comparison with herbivorous species.…”

Morphological and ultrastructural characterization and cuticular armature of the proventriculus in Bolua turkiyae Ünal, 1999 (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae)

“…Parts of the foregut show slight differences within the Orthoptera species. For example, in many Orthoptera species such as Endecous itatibensis Rehn, 1918 (Orthoptera, Gryllidae), Endecous cavernicolus Costa Lima, 1940 (Orthoptera, Gryllidae), Endecous betariensis Mello and Pellegatti-Franco, 1998 (Orthoptera, Gryllidae), (Fontanetti et al, 2002), Isopsera nigroantennata Xia and Liu, 1992 (Orthoptera, Tettigoniidae) (Li & Zheng, 2007), Gryllus assimilis (Fabricius, 1775) (Orthoptera, Gryllidae) (Fontanetti & Zefa, 2000), Gryllus bimaculatus De Geer, 1773 (Orthoptera, Gryllidae) (Woodring & Lorenz, 2007), and Poecilimon cervus Karaba g, 1950 (Orthoptera, Tettigoniidae) (Polat, 2016) the foregut is divided into pharynx, esophagus, crop, and proventriculus. Hochuli et al (1994) (Ayvalı, 1988;Ferreira et al, 1990;Hochuli et al, 1994;Li & Zheng, 2007).…”

“…Wang et al (2012) studied the proventricular structures of 20 species from three different subfamilies of the Tettigoniidae family and their basic morphology shows that the proventriculus is composed of six longitudinal folds with highly sclerotized teeth. Li, Ren, Zou, Zhang, and Wang (2011) (Çakıcı & Ergen, 2012;Fontanetti & Zefa, 2000;Li et al, 2011;Li & Zheng, 2007;Szinwelski et al, 2009;Wang et al, 2012).…”

“…The alimentary canal of insects is a tube that is anatomically differentiated into three main regions as the foregut, the midgut, and the hindgut (Amutkan, Suludere, & Candan, 2015; Ayvalı, 1988; Çakıcı & Ergen, 2012; De Souza, Scudeler, Abrahao, & Conte, 2013; Fontanetti & Zefa, 2000; McClenaghan, Gibson, Shokralla, & Hajibabaei, 2015; Polat, 2016; Srivastava, 1997). In Orthoptera, the main roles of the foregut in digestion are to provide the mechanical breakdown of the foods, to store them and to permit the midgut enzymes passing into the foregut (Çakıcı & Ergen, 2012; De Souza et al, 2013; Li & Zheng, 2007).…”

A comparative study of the proventricular structure in twenty Chinese Tettigoniidae (Orthoptera) species

“…The proventriculus is comprised of several sclerotized plates (Chapman 1998), whose structure has been adaptively associated with insect diet (Caetano 1988, Bland & Rentz 1991. Moreover, many studies have shown that the morphol-ogy of proventriculus can provide useful taxonomic characters for Orthoptera (Judd 1948, Bland & Rentz 1991, Fontanetti & Zefa 2000, Fontanetti et al 2002, Coleoptera (Judd 1947, Yahiro 1990), Isoptera (Lebrun 1985), Trichoptera (Gibbs 1967) and Hymenoptera (Roche & Wheeler 1997, Serrão 2001, 2005, 2007. According to a new updated file of orthopteran species, there are more than 6,000 described Tettigonioidae species in the world (Eades et al 2012), and there are more than 300 species of Tettigoniidae in China (Li & Ren 2007), How-ever, the inner structures of the proventriculus and the alimentary canal as a whole are still poorly known in Tettigonioidea.…”