Alpine mountain cricket

Alpine mountain cricket
Systematics
Subordination :	Long- probe horror (Ensifera)
Superfamily :	Tree locusts (Tettigonioidea)
Family :	Tettigoniidae
Subfamily :	Tettigoniinae
Genre :	Antaxius
Type :	Alpine mountain cricket
Scientific name
	Antaxius difformis
	( Brunner von Wattenwyl , 1861)

The alpine mountain insect ( Antaxius difformis ) is a long- nose insect from the subfamily of the Tettigoniinae within the superfamily of the deciduous locusts .

features

The Alpine mountain cricket is similar in physique to the Atlantic mountain cricket . Their abdomen is long, thick and severely blunted at the back. The pronotum is extended backwards and has a straight rear edge with a very slight indentation. The head is large and sloping back and down. The lower legs of all pairs of legs have small spines, with those of the front pairs of legs being the longest. The basic color is dark brown or dark gray-brown. The lower head area is light beige. A light yellowish-white line runs from the eye to the back of the head, which is often difficult to see. The side lobes of the pronotum are darker than the rest of the body and have a broad yellowish or whitish border, the color border is often blurred. The edge becomes greenish towards the rear. The upper rear part of the pronotum is brown to light brown. The lower thorax and the head are covered with black, irregular drawings. The wings of the males of this species are slightly longer than that of the Atlantic mountain cricket. They reach about the length of the pronotum and are yellow-brown to ocher-yellow in color and veined pale yellow. In the female, they protrude only a millimeter below the pronotum. The abdomen is often pink to purple in color and brightens reddish towards the belly. There is a series of transversely arranged black spots on each segment trailing edge. The strong legs are more or less clearly spotted dark. Their basic color is gray-brown. The rear half of the hind legs is black and edged yellow on the outside. The antennae are about body length, the gray-brown compound eyes have a blurred, dark point in the middle. The male has short, conical cerci , which have an enlargement on the inside that is slightly rearward at the rear edge. The female has a clearly curved ovipositor . The Alpine mountain cricket reaches a body length of 14 to 20 millimeters and is therefore 1 to 3 millimeters smaller than the Atlantic mountain cricket.

Way of life and distribution

The Alpine mountain cricket inhabits the higher areas of the Alps. It occurs mainly on scree fields, stone walls and other stony surfaces at altitudes of 1600 to 2200 meters. Its distribution area extends from the Gran Paradiso area across the southern part of Graubünden , South Tyrol and South Carinthia to Slovenia . It also occurs in Croatia . The species is only known from a few isolated and widely spaced sites. The adults occur from August to September.

Systematics

The Alpine mountain cricket was first described by Brunner von Wattenwyl in 1861 under the name Thamnotrizon difformis . Then they were assigned to the genus Pterolepis and were then called accordingly Pterolepis difformis . Since around 1900 it has been a member of the genus Antaxius , within this it is incorporated into the subgenus Antaxius . A synonym is Antaxius brunneri (Krauss, 1873). There are no known subspecies .

swell

literature

Heiko Bellmann: The Cosmos Locust Leader. Determine the species of Central Europe with certainty. Franckh-Kosmos Verlags GmbH & Co. KG, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3440104478