SEASONAL EFFECTS ON OVIPOSITION BEHAVIOR IN ALLONEMOBIUS-SOCIUS (ORTHOPTERA, GRYLLIDAE) - TEST OF THE SENSE OF MALAISE HYPOTHESIS

For many temperate-zone insects, systematic changes in climate signal the coming of winter and effect changes in behavior and physiology. A late-summer female, for example, that senses a general reduction in te mperature, photoperiod, or both may optimize the survivorship of her o ffspring by laying diapausing eggs. In our study of the bivoltine grou nd cricket, Allonemobius socius (Scudder), we manipulated the abiotic environment experienced by ovipositing females (i.e., maternal-oviposi tion environment) and that experienced by her eggs (i.e., egg-incubati on environment) to test the hypothesis that mothers dump eggs (i.e., s ignificantly increase egg-laying rate) in response to impending death at the end of the reproductive season. We found that mothers tended to lay more eggs in a summer- than a fall-like environment, and that egg viability (or hatchability) was generally higher in a fall- than a su mmer-like environment. Thus, our results run contrary to those expecte d from the sense of malaise hypothesis. We discuss other mechanisms th at can explain the observed oviposition patterns.