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

This study focuses on the proventriculus and the alimentary canal of twenty Tettigoniidae species among three subfamilies, Tettigoniinae, Phaneropterinae and Conocephalinae. Each part of the alimentary canal and the inner structure of proventriculus were examined under optic microscope and scanning electron microscopy. As a result, the length of each part of the alimentary canal and the inner structure of proventriculus were highly associated with feeding habits. Carnivorous species always had a short foregut and long cilia on the base of the sclerotized appendix in proventriculus, whereas herbivorous species always had a longer foregut and a highly sclerotized proventriculus. These results increase understanding of the alimentary canal in Tettigoniidae and will be useful in future studies of their feeding habits.