 AKH was initially discovered in the locusts "Locusta migratoria" and "Schistocerca gregaria" and is generally associated with aiding flight.Early observations of locusts showed that despite the fact that lipids are metabolised by flight muscle in order to maintain flight, which would be transported from the haemolymph, there was often still a high concentration of lipids in the haemolymph, implying that an agent may be responsible for activating lipid transport into the haemolymph and this was thought most likely to be hormonal regulation.The hormone itself is part of a larger family, often referred to as red pigment concentrating hormones (RPCH) discovered in crustaceans and the typical makeup of hormones in this family includes a length between 8 and 10 amino acids, blocked N and C termini, phenylalanine or tyrosine at position 4 and tryptophan at position 8.