Abundance and Life Cycle of Pyrgomorpha vignaudii (Orthoptera: Pyrgomorphidae) in the Humid Forest Zone of Southern Cameroon

Abstract

With a view to facilitating a sustainable strategy for the control of Pyrgomorpha vignaudii (Orthoptera: Pyrgomorphidae), weekly captures from August 2013 to September 2014 enabled us to study the abundance and life cycle of this grasshopper in the Tongolo and Nkolbisson neighbourhoods of Yaounde in the humid forest zone of Southern Cameroon. We found that P. vignaudii was present throughout the year in the human-influenced zones of Yaounde. The species has a bivoltine life cycle with equal abundance and durations of the two generations. The abundance of P. vignaudii varied according to the post-embryonic stage, sex and season. Hatching and coupling took place during both the dry and rainy seasons. The life cycle of P. vignaudii in the humid forest zone of Southern Cameroon is similar to that in the Soudano-sahelian zone of Burkina-fasso.