**Acknowledgements**

*Pests, Weeds and Diseases in Agricultural Crop and Animal Husbandry Production*

cies (21%) as emphasized by gut contents analysis.

type of mandible and a single feeding group.

contents.

**4. Conclusion**

Due to merely one representative species from the three subfamilies Eneopteridae, Mecopodidae and Pyrgomorphidae; determination of the mandibular structure of these families was relatively limited (**Table 1**). However, the supposed major mandible type and in turn the feeding group was mostly confined to the forbivorous type (F) where more dicotyledonous plants with nearly 79% dominance were consumed in much greater amount than monocotyledonous spe-

The determination of the mandibular structure of three subfamilies, Eneopteridae, Mecopodidae and Pyrgomorphidae, was comparatively restricted due to the fact that only one representative species from each of the three subfamilies could be collected (**Table 1**). However, the main mandibular type and in turn the feeding category was mostly restricted to the forbivorous group where more dicotyledonous species (79%) were devoured in relatively greater quantities than monocotyledonous ones (21%) as verified by the assessment of the analysis of gut

At family level, it is noted that family Tettigoniidae with 12 species, was the most diverse family in both mandibular type and feeding group. It was obvious that four different feeding groups could be detected in Tettigoniidae. This was proceeded by family Acrididae in term of feeding group. Acrididae which harbored eight species had displayed three distinctive feeding groups as indicated in **Table 2**. Diversely, other families possessed only a single feeding group irrespective to the number of species (**Table 2**). Moreover, results perceived from **Table 2** showed that both family Gryllidae and family Tetrigidae (12 and 7 species, respectively) retained only one

In all cases, a range of food of plant and/or animal origin was used in their diet, even though some were used infrequently. Thus these orthopteran species inhabiting different habitats in Satoyama area could be considered polyphagous species. Cates [38] depicted the degree of diet specialization into the following three criteria: (1) monophagy: where one or more species within a genus; (2) oligophagy: two or more tightly associated genera; and (3) polyphagy: two or more plant families. In fact, none of the orthopteran species regarded in this research can be considered as either monophagic or oligophagic species. A variety of plant and/ or animal foods were consumed in their diet in all instances, although some were rarely devoured. Thus, these species of orthopteran co-occurring in the diverse

In conclusion, it is far from accuracy to roughly connect between mouthparts morphology and diet. Some authors like Mulkern was persuaded that only the grossest associations between mandibular structure and their diet regime (i.e., graminivorous, forbivorous, and herbivorous) could be made [3]. Some orthopteran species, especially grasshoppers with forb-feeding adapted mandibles, occasionally feed on grasses on a regular basis or vice versa [20, 22]. Nevertheless, the evaluation of mouthpart structure and morphology as a predictive avenue in determining diet and habitat preference in orthopteran species has some importance, particularly for the rare or non-economic species that are unlikely to be studied in details. Thus, the analysis of gut contents in parallel with laboratory examinations and precise observations on feeding behavior could be used as confirmation cues for the discovery of the mandibular structural adaptations. This would solve some hidden aspects that could not be deduced from the morphological characters of the

habitats of Satoyama area could be regarded as polyphagic species.

**38**

mandibles if they were adopted alone.

The authors wish to acknowledge the staff at the Laboratory of Ecology, Graduate School of Natural Science and Technology, Kanazawa University for the laboratory facilities provided. Also, sincere gratitude is extended to Prof. Dr. Nakamura Koji (Kanazawa University, Japan) for his keen hospitality and encourages for completing the research and writing the manuscript.
