Balkan sawhopper

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Balkan sawhopper
Balkan sawhopper (Saga natoliae), females in size comparison

Balkan sawhopper ( Saga natoliae ), females in size comparison

Systematics
Subordination : Long- probe horror (Ensifera)
Superfamily : Tree locusts (Tettigonioidea)
Family : Whooper terrors (Tettigoniidae)
Subfamily : Sägeschrecken (Saginae)
Genre : saga
Type : Balkan sawhopper
Scientific name
Saga natoliae
Serville , 1839

The Balkan Bush Cricket ( Saga natoliae ) is a locust the subfamily of Sägeschrecken (Saginae) in the superfamily of grasshoppers (Tettigonioidea). The species, which is mainly found in parts of the Middle East , is the largest locust found in Europe .

features

male

The female of the Balkan sawworm reaches a body length of 60 to 88.6 millimeters and the male one of 51.5 to 81.5 millimeters. The basic color of the species is usually green or greenish-yellow, rarely brown. The physique of the species is similar to that of other species of saw horrors. Thus, the Balkan sawhorse also has a comparatively elongated body and, unlike many other grasshoppers, does not have a thickened femora of the hind legs, i.e. no jumping ability. Like all sawhorses, this species has a cone-shaped head with remarkably long antennae. Like other predatory long-feeler terrors, the Balkan hawk has thorns on the underside of the two front pairs of legs, which are used to grab and hold prey.

A special feature of the Balkan sawfly is the type of transverse folds of the cuticle . Although this is present in all species of the genus, in Saga natoliae it tends to merge into a coarse grain or rugosity dorsally (on the upper side). This characteristic is present in many fully-grown specimens, young animals in the early stages do not have it. Another characteristic are the scars on the forehead. Their number is one to three (usually two), they are created in pairs dorsally, ventrally and laterally in the form of brownish to black blemishes. If a pair is missing, it is usually the lateral one. In contrast to other species of the genus in the Balkan Bush Cricket is neck plate (pronotum) of both sexes domed. Together with some other species of the genus, the lower edge of the pronotum side lobes is set off as a narrow, blurred, white border in the living, adult animal. When fully colored, the male has a black spot with blurred edges on the base of the tegmine (base of the wing cover). At the end of the distal side of the femora there are black, crescent-shaped spots. The cerci (abdominal appendages) of the female are thickened at the base of the Balkan sawfly and conically narrowed at the distal end, the apical tooth is directed inwards. The ovipositor ( ovipositor ) is comparatively large in the Balkan sawfly, as in all species of the genus, and is roughly three times the length of the pronotum. This species occasionally has dark melanin deposits on the head, thorax and legs (especially on the underside of the femora of the first two pairs of legs).

Similar species

Female of the great saw hoppers ( Saga pedo )

A species similar to the Balkan sawfly is the closely related and only slightly smaller large sawhorse ( Saga pedo ). In contrast to this, as with the other Saga species, male animals can also be found regularly in the Balkan sawhorse. Other similar species are the Greek sawhorse ( Saga hellenica ), Saga ephippigera , Saga longicaudata and Saga rodiensis , with which the Balkan sawhorse forms a species group together with the great sawhorse.

Occurrence

Males found in Turkey .

The distribution area of ​​the Balkan saw-bug extends from the Balkan Peninsula to Asia Minor , the Caucasus and the Middle East . The preferred habitat are sunny, dry and wood-rich biotopes, including the maquis , areas rich in bushes and dry slopes rich in shrubbery.

Threat and protection

Due to the shrinking of their habitats, local declines in the populations of the Balkan sawfly have been recorded. Individuals who try to cross busy roads often fall victim to road traffic. The IUCN does not evaluate the population of the species.

Way of life

The Balkan sawhoppers mostly inhabit the bushes or the ground of their habitat and, like all species of the subfamily, also feed mainly on other grasshoppers . Occasionally the species is parasitized by the flesh fly Blaesoxipha calliste .

Reproduction

The reproductive behavior of the Balkan sawfly corresponds in many respects to that of other species of the genus with the exception of the large sawfly, which reproduces mainly parthenogenetically .

singing

Male song (after introduction)

As with many other grasshoppers, the male Balkan sawhorse also uses a song in the form of a stridulation . The singing consists of several movements with irregular intervals. The greatest intensity of the singing is reached from about a third or a quarter. However, with some sentences there is often a gradual swelling that then lasts approximately from the beginning to half of the sentence. A single sentence lasts 2.29 and 4.18 seconds and contains between 83 and 131 syllables. It begins with a characteristic and isolated half-syllable, which sounds with a variable depth and duration. This half-syllable is followed by the normal syllables, each of which has a duration of 25.01 to 46.47 milliseconds. These syllables have the same structure and each start with a softer-sounding half-syllable and end with another, abruptly closing half-syllable.

Mating and development

During the mating itself, the female of the Balkan hawk remains almost motionless compared to the male. This phenomenon can also be observed in Saga ephippigera . Some sightings showed cannibalistic behavior on the part of the female towards the male prior to mating. The eggs laid in the ground have an incubation period of two years before the young hatch in spring. The hatching rate can vary depending on the weather and based on previous knowledge between 47 and 196. As is customary with hemimetabolic insects , the young then grow over several moults; they reach sexual maturity 15 to 20 days after the last moult. Adults appear from early summer to July or August, rarely beyond. The average lifespan of the Balkan saw bug is around 125 days, with a maximum of around 160 (60 to 70 of which are young).

Systematics

The Balkan sawhorse was first described by Jean Guillaume Audinet-Serville in 1839 and received no name changes or conversions. However, it has three synonyms, these are:

  • Gryllus ( Tettigonia ) onos ( Stoll , 1787), synonymous with Saga natoliae since 1967 .
  • Saga brunneri Saussure , 1888
  • Saga synophrys Charpentier , 1841

Research has shown that the Balkan sawhorse is most closely related to the Greek sawhorse ( Saga hellenica ).

gallery

  • Dorsal view of a prepared female

  • Ventral view of a female

  • Dorsal view of a prepared male

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d M. Lemonnier-Darcemont, C. Bernier, C. Darcemont: Field and breeding data on the European species of the genus Saga (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae) , Articulata 2009 24 (1/2), pp. 1– 14, accessed January 26, 2020.
  2. ↑ Duncker & Humblot: Zoological Contributions , 1970, p. 168.
  3. ↑ a b c Heiko Bellmann: Der Kosmos Heuschreckenführer , 1st edition, Kosmos Naturführer, Kosmos (Franckh-Kosmos), 2006, p. 160, ISBN 978-3-440-10447-7 .
  4. ↑ a b c d A. Kaltenbach: Documents for a monograph of the Saginae. I. Superrevision of the genus Saga Charpentier (Saltatoria: Tettigoniidae). Contributions to Entomology 17 (1–2), 3–107, accessed on January 26, 2020.
  5. ↑ a b Saga natoliae (Serville, 1838) on the website of "BKMakro" , accessed on January 26, 2020.
  6. ↑ a b c d Saga natoliae (Serville, 1838) on the website of "pyrgus.de" , accessed on January 26, 2020.
  7. ↑ Saga natoliae (Serville, 1838) on the website of the Global Biodiversity Information Facility retrieved on 26 January 2020th
  8. ↑ Cornell University: Studia dipterologica , Volume 7, Ampyx, 2000, p. 121, ISBN 9783000035173 .
  9. ↑ a b B. Kolics, Z. Ács, DP Chobanov, KM Orci, LS Qiang, B. Kovacs, E. Kondorosy, K. Decsi, J. Taller, A. Speczia, L. Orbán, T. Müller: Re- Visiting Phylogenetic and Taxonomic Relationships in the Genus Saga (Insecta: Orthoptera) , PLoS ONE 7 (8), 2012, pp. 5–12, accessed on January 26, 2020.
  10. ↑ D. Şirin, MT Sait, H. Sevgili, A. Mol: Bioacoustics review of Anatolian species of the predatory bush-cricket genus Saga (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae: Saginae) with the description of a new species , Zootaxa 4664 (1), 2019, pp. 86–87, accessed on January 26, 2020.
  11. ^ Information Retrieval Limited, Association for the Study of Animal Behavior: Animal Behavior Abstracts , Volume 17, Information Retrieval Limited, 1989, p. 17
  12. ↑ DT Gwynne: Katydids and Bush-crickets: Reproductive Behavior and Evolution of the Tettigoniidae , Cornell series in arthropod biology, Cornell University Press, 2001, p. 137, ISBN 9780801436550 .
  13. ↑ Saga natoliae (Serville, 1838) on the website of Orthoptera Species File , accessed on 26 January 2020th

literature

Web links

Commons : Balkan Sawfly  - Collection of images, videos and audio files