Italian beautiful insect
| Italian beautiful insect | ||||||||||||
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Italian beautiful insect ( Calliptamus italicus ), ♀ |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Calliptamus italicus | ||||||||||||
| ( Linnaeus , 1758) |
The Italian beautiful insect ( Calliptamus italicus ) is a short-antennae insect from the family of field locusts (Acrididae). The very warmth-loving species is one of the endangered species in Central Europe. It is threatened with extinction in Germany, although earlier in favorable years, most recently in 1931 and 1951, it appeared so numerous that control measures were considered. In southern Europe, on the other hand, it is still one of the most common short-lived terrors and is therefore classified as Least Concern in the European Red List .
features
The animals are 15 to 23 millimeters (males) or 23 to 34 millimeters (females) long, with individuals near the northern limit of distribution being significantly smaller and also relatively dark in color. The basic color of the body is gray to red-brown, which means that the species is perfectly camouflaged on the ground. A yellow longitudinal stripe often runs along the sides of the pronotum and the fore wings. The forewings are darkly spotted and end a little behind the knees of the hind legs. The hind wings are clearly pink-colored on the anal fan, otherwise transparent. The tibia of the hind legs are colored bright red. The cerci of the males are noticeably long and curved, the genital hood, a chitinous extension at the end of the abdomen, is relatively long, curved backwards and slightly pointed. The latter feature enables the species to be distinguished from very similar species of the genus that occur in the same distribution area.
Similar species
- Costa's beautiful insect ( Calliptamus barbarus )
- Provence grasshopper ( Calliptamus siciliae )
- Calliptamus wattenwylianus
Occurrence and distribution
The species is widespread in Europe and Asia and occurs from Portugal across southern , central and eastern Europe east to Siberia . The northern limit of distribution in Europe runs roughly at the level of Paris via southern and eastern Germany (Brandenburg) to Poland.
In Central Europe, the Italian beautiful bug is found as a warmth-loving species in very warm and dry places, such as on rocky, thinly overgrown dry grassland , on rubble and gravel fields and in sandy steppes . It is more tolerant of vegetation than, for example, the heat -loving red-winged wasteland insect ( Oedipoda germanica ), and prefers to colonize areas in which densely and weakly vegetated areas alternate.
The species predominantly colonizes the colline altitude range and occurs in Central Europe mostly between 200 and 400 meters above sea level, but can also be observed locally in very warm places, such as in Switzerland, up to 2000 meters.
Way of life
The animals feed on various herbaceous plants such as clover , adder's head , milkweed or plantain trees . It has not yet been adequately investigated whether the species also feeds itself predatory. However, captive animals also eat other locusts. The eating of carrion is also documented. With occasional mass reproductions, as occurred in Germany a few decades ago and still occur in Russia, the species can cause great damage to a wide variety of agricultural crops. During these phases, a migrant generation with elongated wings is formed.
The animals are very active at high temperatures and can fly excellently. In flight they can be recognized by their pink hind wings in combination with the red rear rails. Most of the time, however, they sit on the ground and quickly climb to the ground even after landing in the vegetation.
Courtship and mating
The males are able to mate about ten days after the last molt. Their powerful cerci are used to cling to the female during mating. The animals can only make noises by rubbing the apical mandible surfaces together. These have a frequency of 17 kHz , with harmonics up to 100 kHz. During these vocalizations, the feelers, palps and hind legs or even the entire body are moved with violent twitching. If the female is not willing to mate, defense sounds are also generated with the mandibles. Mandible noises are also used to ward off possible enemies.
development
The females lay about 500 eggs in clusters of 10 to 50 eggs in loose substrate. The eggs are wrapped in a capsule made of secretion to which sand and earth adhere, so that a compact protective cover is created after hardening. The larvae hatch after wintering from April to June of the following year. It takes 40 to 50 days to develop into an imago , with five larval stages being lived through. Adults appear from June and can be observed until October. The larvae are very sensitive to cold and wet weather and therefore depend on the protection of the vegetation as a weather buffer.
Hazard and protection
The populations of the Italian beautiful hedge are in decline everywhere in Central Europe, so that the species has now disappeared in many places. It is to be feared that the species will disappear from Central Europe without suitable countermeasures. In Germany it is designated as particularly protected under the Federal Species Protection Ordinance and listed as severely endangered (Category 2) in the Red List of Endangered Species in Germany. In Austria the species is less threatened and listed as endangered (category 3) on the red list. In southern Europe, unlike in Central Europe, the Italian beautiful hedge is one of the most common types of short-antennae terrors and is not endangered there.
The most important source of danger is the natural succession or shrub cover of their habitats. Afforestation also contributes to the threat. Good results in promoting the species have been achieved by clearing bushes and trees on poor grassland and subsequent grazing by sheep.
swell
Individual evidence
- ^ A. Hochkirch et al .: European Red List of Grasshoppers, Crickets and Bush-crickets. Publications of the European Union, Luxembourg 2016.
- ↑ A. Hochkirch, P. Fontana, F. Rutschmann, JJ Presa, G. Szovenyi, DP Chobanov, R. Kleukers, LPM Willemse, A. Kristin: Calliptamus italicus. European Red List of Threatened Species. 2016, http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/15038693/1
- ↑ Peter Detzel: The locusts of Baden-Württemberg. Verlag Eugen Ulmer GmbH & Co, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-8001-3507-8 , pp. 360-366.
- ↑ K. Adlbauer, A. Kaltenbach: Red list of endangered grasshoppers and crickets, earwigs, 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 for the Environment, Youth and Family, Vol. 2, Vienna 1994.
literature
- Bertrand & Hannes Baur, Christian & Daniel Roesti: The locusts of Switzerland. Haupt Verlag, Bern 2006, ISBN 3-258-07053-9 .
- Heiko Bellmann : The Cosmos Locust Leader. Determine the species of Central Europe with certainty. Franckh-Kosmos Verlags-GmbH & Co KG, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-440-10447-8 , pp. 216-217.
- Peter Detzel: The locusts of Baden-Württemberg. Verlag Eugen Ulmer GmbH & Co, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-8001-3507-8 , pp. 360-366.
