The imaginal ecdysis of the desert locust, <i>Schistocerca gregaria.</i>

Abstract

ABSTRACT. The newly‐emerged adult locust stretches its soft new cuticle into its adult shape and size, and at the same time caters for its ventilatory demands, by means of a pattern of behaviour, the ‘expansional motor programme’. This programme begins after emergence and persists until about an hour after wing‐folding, during which time its period changes in a predictable manner. In the post‐expansional period, abdominal dorsoventral movements occur that may serve to deflate the gut and to fill the air‐sacs, and the mandibles are periodically ad ducted.