Atlantic mountain horror
| Atlantic mountain horror | ||||||||||||
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Atlantic mountain cricket ( Antaxius pedestris ) |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Antaxius pedestris | ||||||||||||
| ( Fabricius , 1787) |
The Atlantic mountain insect ( Antaxius pedestris ) is a long- nosed insect from the subfamily of the Tettigoniinae within the superfamily of the leaf locust . There are two subspecies .
features
The Atlantic mountain cricket is similar in physique to the Alpine mountain cricket . Their abdomen is long, thick and severely blunted at the back. The pronotum is extended backwards and has a small notch in the middle of its rear edge. The head is large and slightly sloping back and down. The lower legs of all pairs of legs have small spines, whereas those of the front pairs of legs are longer. The color is dark brown, gray-brown or dark gray with lighter whitish or yellow to light gray markings. The head is light and has a black, broad band that extends from the antennae to behind the eye and is interrupted by a light diagonal stripe diagonally back and above. The dark pronotum has a wide, light border at the bottom; in the rear part of the upper side, i.e. at its rear edge, it is light brown to ocher in color. The short wings barely protrude in the female, in the male 3 to 4 millimeters below the pronotum. They are black in color and have a white spot on the back. The abdomen of the species is dark and often tinged reddish or purple and has light spots arranged in longitudinal rows. Her strong legs are spotted black on the thighs, the joint regions of the legs are also dark. The hind legs are darker in color on their rear half and have a yellowish line on the rear edge. The antennae are about body length, the light brown compound eyes have a dark point in the middle. The male's cerci are of an unusual shape. They are colored white and have a horizontal, double-pointed wide plate on the inside. The ovipositor of the female is almost straight and slightly shorter than the body. The Atlantic mountain insect reaches a body length of 15 to 23 millimeters.
Way of life and distribution
The Atlantic mountain cricket is very nimble and can quickly hide in dense vegetation if disturbed. They are mainly found in mountains and low mountain ranges on - or in the vicinity of scree fields, which are covered with blackberry bushes or other plants. Their distribution area extends from the Pyrenees across southern France to the southern Alps . Its northernmost occurrences are in the Rhone Valley , in northern Graubünden ( Calanda ) and - furthest in the north - in Landeck in North Tyrol . Adults occur from August to October.
Systematics
The Atlantic mountain cricket belongs to the subgenus Chopardius . It was originally described by Fabricius under the scientific name Locusta pedestris .
There are two subspecies:
- A. p. pedestris ( Fabricius , 1787) - nominate form , occurs in France, Italy, Austria and Switzerland
- A. p. apuanus Nadig , 1958 - occurs in Italy, Austria and Switzerland
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
