Reliance on seasonal wild harvests of the edible long-horned grasshopper Ruspolia differens needs to be broken through developing efficient mass rearing protocols. This study aimed at boosting productivity of laboratory colonies of R. differens through understanding ways of minimising cannibalism, selecting suitable oviposition substrates and enhancing egg development and hatchability. Firstly, we investigated the extent of cannibalism in a colony of R. differens relative to total mortality, sex, diurnality, growth stage, body parts eaten and visual barriers (presence/absence of cardboard egg trays). R. differens cadavers recovered from cages with/without the egg trays were scored for cause of death (cannibalism/other), time of death (night/day), sex, growth stage and body part devoured. Secondly, cotton wool and leaf sheaths of Pennisetum sp., maize and Panicum sp. were evaluated for preference for oviposition by R. difference. Eggs oviposited in each substrate were incubated to determine developmental duration and hatchability. Thirdly, we tested effect of moistening R. differens eggs on incubation period and hatchability in intact and opened leaf sheaths against unmoistened eggs in intact sheaths as a control. We found that cannibalism accounted for 49% of R. differens deaths with 83% of victims being adults. Males and females were equally susceptible to cannibalism. Over 97% of cannibalism occurred at night and presence of egg trays almost doubled incidence of cannibalism. The thorax was the most preferred body part, which was consumed in 77% of cannibalised individuals. Maize and Panicum sp. were preferred for oviposition over Pennisetum sp. and cotton wool. Opening of egg laden leaf sheaths reduced incubation period by 0.4 days. Unmoistened eggs didn’t hatch after incubation for 25 days, but 65% of them hatched within 11 days upon moistening. These findings offer guidelines for improvement of protocols for mass rearing of R. differens for human consumption and other uses.

中文翻译：

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在实验室条件下，可食用长角蚱hopper的食人，产卵和卵发育（直翅目：Tettigoniidae）

需要通过制定有效的大规模饲养协议来打破对长角可食用蚱Ru的季节性野生收获的依赖。这项旨在通过了解将食人鱼减至最少，选择合适的产卵基质并增强卵子发育和孵化率的方法来提高R.实验室菌落的生产力。首先，我们调查了相对于总死亡率，性别，昼夜性，生长阶段，被吃的身体部位和视觉障碍（存在/不存在纸板蛋托），R。菌落中的同类相食程度有所不同。R.差异从有或没有蛋托的笼子中回收的尸体被计入死亡原因（自相残杀/其他），死亡时间（夜间/白天），性别，生长期和吞噬身体部位。其次，狼尾草属，玉米和Panicum sp。的棉和叶鞘。为偏爱通过产卵进行评价R.差。孵化在每个底物中产卵的卵，以确定发育持续时间和孵化率。第三，我们测试了湿润R.的差异鸡蛋对潜伏期和完整和开放叶鞘的孵化率的影响，以完整鞘中未弄湿的鸡蛋为对照。我们发现，自相残杀占R.的49％死亡，83％的受害者是成年人。男性和女性同样容易遭受自相残杀。超过97％的自相残杀是在夜间发生的，并且蛋盘的存在使自相残杀的发生率几乎翻了一番。胸部是最喜欢的身体部位，有77％的食人者食用了该部位。玉米和Panicum sp。优先于狼尾草产卵。和棉绒。鸡蛋满载的叶鞘的开放使潜伏期缩短了0.4天。未润湿的鸡蛋在孵化25天后未孵化，但其中65％的鸡蛋在润湿后11天内孵化。这些发现为改善人类食用和其他用途的R.的大规模饲养规程提供了指导。