Migratory and local flights in mole crickets, Scapteriscus spp. (Gryllotalpidae)

To study between-habitat and within-habitat flights of Scapteriscus acletus Rehn and Hebard and S. vicinus Scudder at Gainesville, Fla., the authors trapped those landing at synthesized conspecific calls at paired stations -- one in an infested field and the other in a nearby wood (where mole crickets do not breed). Since mole crickets end their flights (long or short) at conspecific calls, the proportion of flying mole crickets that were migrating could be estimated as follows: number ending (migratory) flights in the wood divided by number ending (migratory and trivial) flights in the field. Since this ratio may be biased by unknown details of flight or phonotactic behavior, it should be treated as an index of migration rather than an accurate estimator. During 3 years at one pair of stations, the index for S. acletus ranged between 0.12 and 0.18 and for S. vicinus , between 0.39 and 0.46.