[Objectives]  The migratory locust Locusta migratoria (Linnaeus) is one of the most important agricultural pest in the world, including China. Outbreaks of this pest have caused great damage and crop loss. The population dynamics of the migratory locust are affected by low temperature and temperature fluctuation. However, the mechanism underlying these effects, i.e., how temperature factors affect embryonic development and whether they induce embryonic diapause, remain poorly understood. [Methods]  In this paper, we first investigated the characteristics of embryos at different developmental stages. We then examined the effects on embryonic development of low temperature induction, with or without recovery, temperature fluctuation, and exposure to low temperature at an early stage of development. [Results]  The results show that, in contrast to the effects of exposure to 25-30℃, exposure to non-lethal low temperature 7.5℃ resulted in increased variation in the developmental duration of embryonic stages. The duration of exposure at 7.5℃ didn’t influence embryonic development at the time of exposure, but did post-exposure. In other words, low temperature induction facilitated embryonic development at 25℃ or 30℃ after induction. Fluctuation of temperature below 25℃ influenced embryo development. However, the key limiting factor for embryo development was that temperature remained above the threshold for normal developmental. [Conclusions]  Low and changing temperatures do not induce the occurrence of diapause. Temperature treatments promote embryonic development post-treatment. These results have important implications for the role of temperature changes in organismal development, population dynamics and outbreak prediction.