Alpine shrub insect
| Alpine shrub insect | ||||||||||||
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Alpine shrub insect ( Pholidoptera aptera ), ♀ |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Pholidoptera aptera | ||||||||||||
| ( Fabricius , 1793) |
The alpine shrub insect ( Pholidoptera aptera ) is a long- probe insect from the superfamily of the grasshopper (Tettigonioidea). The species inhabits habitats with medium-high vegetation in the Alps and the Alpine foothills. The males have a conspicuous song that can be heard very loud, especially in the evening.
features
The alpine shrub insect is 19 to 22 millimeters (males) and 22 to 25 millimeters (females) long. The ovipositor of the females, which is slightly curved upwards, is another 19 to 21 millimeters long. The males are brown-black, rarely red-brown and have a stronger and more contrasting coloration than the gray to black-brown females. In the males the sides of the pronotum are colored black, in both sexes the rear edge of the same is broadly yellowish-white. The forewings, which are brown in the middle and tinted yellowish-white at the edges, are rounded in the male, while in the female they just protrude from under the pronotum. The ventral side is yellow in both males and females. The cerci of the males are almost straight, slightly curved inwards and each provided with a pointed, black tooth after the first quarter. The strong legs ( femora ) are marbled gray-brown on the top, black on the outside and white on the underside.
Occurrence and habitat
The animals are found in Eastern and Central Europe in the Alps and the Alpine foothills. In Switzerland its occurrence is limited to the Eastern Alps , the southern side of the Alps and the Schaffhauser Randen , in Germany it occurs south of the Lake Constance line to southern Munich. They are found at altitudes of 260 to 2360 meters above sea level, and they mainly occur between 900 and 1700 meters. The alpine shrub insect populates habitats with medium-high vegetation, such as densely overgrown forest clearings or clearcuts , tall herbaceous corridors , bracken corridors , stony, bushy heaps, dwarf shrub communities and places densely overgrown with grasses and herbaceous plants. Warm south-facing slopes are preferred at high altitudes.
Way of life
Pholidoptera aptera usually lives hidden in the herbaceous layer or at the base of bushes and is not often seen sitting freely. The animals are very shy and immediately fall silent when you approach them. If they are disturbed, they drop into the vegetation or hop away. The females lay their eggs in the ground, the hatching larvae take two years to develop. The adults are found from June to November, with the peak from July to September.
Organ of stridulation, song
The following measured values were determined in 12 males and 6 females from the area around Werfen, Austria, and from the Risserkogel near Tegernsee, Upper Bavaria. The adult females are not only easy to distinguish from the males by the presence of an ovipositor, but also by the receding forewings (mean length: 1.33 millimeters). The front wings of the males are also reduced, but only with the exception of the stridulation organ and its immediate surroundings (picture). Their length is 7.08 millimeters on average. On the left front wing, the shrill ridge measures an average of 4.04 millimeters, the average number of shrill teeth is 146.67. The free edge of the shrill teeth is flattened, the two vertical edges have points. On the right front wing, the mean value for the length of the shrill ridge is 3.32 millimeters and for the number of shrill teeth is 127.75. The mirror takes up a considerable part of the wing on the right wing, but is completely absent on the left wing (picture). The hind wings are very short in both sexes. They measure an average of 1.64 millimeters in males and 1.52 millimeters in females.
The males sing from the afternoon until late at night. Their singing is very loud and can be heard up to 50 meters away and consists of a quick sequence of short "zri" sounds. As the temperature drops, they are lined up at ever greater intervals and can then only be heard every one or two seconds. In the evening and at night, competing males often fall into an alternating song, in which the “zri” of one always falls into the short pause between the two “zri” of the other.
Danger
In Germany, the species is listed in the Red List of Threatened Species as a species with geographical restriction (category R). The species is not endangered in Austria and Switzerland.
supporting documents
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e Heiko Bellmann : The cosmos of locust leader. Determine the species of Central Europe with certainty . Franckh-Kosmos, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-440-10447-8 , pp. 136 .
- ^ A b c d Bertrand & Hannes Baur, Christian & Daniel Roesti: The locusts of Switzerland . Haupt Verlag, Bern 2006, ISBN 3-258-07053-9 , p. 116 f .
- ↑ a b Anna Alfonsa Stark: Investigations on the sound organ of some crickets and grasshopper species, at the same time a contribution to the right-left problem. In: Zoological Yearbooks, Department of Anatomy and Ontogeny of Animals. 77, 1958, pp. 9-50.
- ↑ K. Adlbauer, A. Kaltenbach: Red list of endangered grasshoppers and crickets, catchy tunes , cockroaches and catching horrors. (Saltatoria, Dermaptera, Blattodea, Mantodea). In: J. Gepp (Red.): Red lists of endangered animals in Austria. Green series of the Federal Ministry f. Environment, Youth and Family, Volume 2, Vienna 1994.
- ^ Christian Monnerat, Philippe Thorens, Thomas Walter, Yves Gonseth: Rote Liste Heuschrecken. Red list of endangered species in Switzerland. Federal Office for the Environment and Swiss Center for Fauna Cartography, Bern 2007.
literature
- Bertrand & Hannes Baur, Christian & Daniel Roesti: The locusts of Switzerland . Haupt Verlag, Bern 2006, ISBN 3-258-07053-9 .
- Heiko Bellmann : The cosmos of locust leaders, defining the types of Central Europe with certainty . Franckh-Kosmos Verlag, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-440-10447-8 .
- Anna Alfonsa Stark: Investigations on the sound organ of some crickets and grasshopper species, at the same time a contribution to the right-left problem . In: Zoological Yearbooks, Department of Anatomy and Ontogeny of Animals . tape 77 , 1958, pp. 9-50 .
