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Journal of Experimental Biology 37,264-278 (1960)
Published by Company of Biologists 1960

Respiration in the Desert Locust : III. Ventilation and the Spiracles During Flight

P. L. MILLER ¹

¹ Department of Zoology, The University of Cambridge; Makerere College, Kampala, Uganda

1. During normal flight of the desert locust, auxiliary ventilating mechanisms do not appear, and dorso-ventral abdominal pumping continues at increased frequency and amplitude. When flight stops hyperventilation together with auxiliary forms appear briefly. Removal of the abdomen has shown that pterothoracic and neck ventilation are adequate for sustained flight.

2. Spiracles 2 and 3 open wide during flight: when flight is weaker they make incipient closing movements. A central inhibitory reflex controls their activity, in addition to the peripheral action of carbon dioxide on spiracle 2. The incipient closing movements are shown not to have a functional significance; they are probably the expression of two competing mechanisms, and may arise by negative induction.

3. Spiracles 1 and 4-10 remain synchronized with ventilation, and thereby permit adequate ventilation of the central nervous system.

4. The isolation of the pterothoracic tracheal system is enhanced by the occlusion of two pairs of cross-links. The occlusion of a further three pairs in the prothorax and head ensures that the head has priority on the inspired air.

5. The occlusion of all the cross-links takes place after the first instar, at which time spiracle synchronization first regularly appears and a directed airstream becomes possible.

6. In flight there are two largely independent ventilating systems. The first, a two-way system, ventilates the flight muscles through the open spiracles 2 and 3 and is pumped by the flight movements. The second, a one-way system, ventilates primarily the central nervous system and is pumped by the abdomen, in through the dorsal orifice of spiracle 1, and out through spiracles 5-10.

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