author(s)
Aishwarya Hommaradi, KL Sachidanandamurthy and H Channaveerappa

abstract
Ovipositors in grasshoppers have been examined by several workers in functional and taxonomic context. These structures are essential for formation of egg pot and to bury the egg pod in the soil by digging a small tube like chamber. One of the means to understand inter specific variable characters is by comparison of structures. Comparison of the ovipositor of eleven species of female grasshoppers has been carried out in this study to understand variation in structural components of ovipositors. The ovipositors of eleven species had striking differences in the ovipositor valves in margins such as toothed, tuberculate or smooth condition, shape and size, shape of the apical tip. The apodemes also had variations in the length, width, shape and stainable tissue component. Grasshoppers involved in this study belonged to sub families Acridinae, Oedipodinae, Cyrtacanthacris, Catantopinae, Gomphocirinae and Hemiacridinae of the family Acrididae and Family pyrgomorphinae. These structure seems to have taxonomic significance as these showed considerable variations in between species and could be used in classification of grasshoppers.