O. Merkl szerk.: Folia Entomologica Hungarica 68. (Budapest, 2007)

RESULTS Concerning the length and width of the eggs, there was no significant difference (p<0.05) between S. pedo and S. natoliae, while the eggs of S. c. campbelli and S. rammei were found to be significantly smaller. Significant difference (p<0.05) was found in all Saga species in the weight of the eggs and in the number of micropyles. Comprising the above parameters, we can state that the highest variability was found in the parthenogenic S. pedo, while the least we found in S. c. campbelli (Table 1). The micropyles (mp) of S. pedo varied between 0 and 6 (Fig. 1). Among the eggs with micropyle, 1 mp/egg was found most often (17.9%), while the maximum of 6 mp/eggs was found in 0.7% of the eggs. We found a lack of micropyles in 53% of the S.pedo eggs (n= 151). Furthermore, a high variability was found concerning the lack of the micropyles among S. pedo clones as well: we found a specimen on which 90% of the eggs' micropyles were missing, and also one with a rate of 25%. Table 1. Measurements and number of micropyles on Balkanian Saga eggs. Data represent the mean ± SD. Different letters indicate significant differences (one-way ANOVA, P<0.05) eggs micropyle species weight (mg) length (\im) width (fim) N number N S. pedo 49.65±3.87 a 104.71 ±7.39 a 27.36±2.83 a 106 1.1±1.5 a 151 S. natoliae 51.29±3.36b 105.88±4.53 a 27.07±1.21 a 178 9.0±3.2b 166 S. rammei 32.95± 1.98 c 98.35±2.47b 21.95±1.38b 149 13.1 ±4.3 c 212 S. c. campbelli 35.03± 1.93 d 90.44±3.60 c 24.33±1.33c 80 7.5±1.9d 51 DISCUSSION According to HARTLEY & WARNE ( 1972) and INGRISCH ( 1986) no initial development occurs in the eggs of S. rhodiensis SALFI, 1929 and S.pedo, respectively at or below 24-25 °C. These eggs will only reach the blastodermic stage and do not start to develop to embryos. To ensure that the eggs should not start to develop, few eggs per species were dissected at the investigations. Concerning S. pedo and S. natoliae, the lengths given by SÄNGER & HELFERT (1994) are equal to our results (9.9+0.3 mm and 9.8±0.3 mm, respectively). SCHALL (2002) gave similar results for the length and the width of the eggs of S. pedo (9.0-10.1, and 2-2.5, respectively).