Study on morphology and development of egg-pod and eggs of Poekilocerus pictus (Orthoptera: Pyrgomorphidae)

Abstract

During present study, some observation was taken on the analysis of egg pods and its morphological characteristic and hatching. It was noted that egg pods of Poekilocerus pictus were fragile, elongated and much bent and curved near the base surface, eggs in pod were arranged irregularly and overlap with each other. A significant variation in the morphology of egg-pods was observed. The weight of egg-pods was calculated (0.82gm), length was (45.11±1.19mm) and width was (12.34±4.37mm), while the egg’s size was calculated (7.75±0.25 mm) for fresh eggs and (6.07±0.61mm) for dry eggs. P. pictus deposit (1.8±0.78) egg pods during entire period of life and total No. of eggs per pod were counted (79.8±16.12). Maximum hatching of P. pictus was reported 27.5% during the summer season opposing to this; lowest hatching i-e 7.3% was obtained for autumn season. This disparity in hatching mechanism might be due to hatching of some diapause eggs during autumn season which don’t hatch in summer season.