Heather grasshopper
| Heather grasshopper | ||||||||||
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Female heather grasshopper |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||
| Stenobothrus lineatus | ||||||||||
| ( Panzer , 1796) |
The heather grasshopper ( Stenobothrus lineatus ) is a medium-sized species in the family of field locusts (Acrididae) and belongs to the order of short-antennae terrors (Caelifera).
features
The heather grasshopper can be recognized by its high-contrast coloration, the clearly inwardly curved keels of the pronotum and the narrow precostal field on the wide wings. Important characteristics are an oblique, white spot just behind the middle of the wing and the wide medial field, which does not extend over half the wing length (in contrast to S. nigromaculatus ). But there are also striking color variants such as completely purple-blue colored animals. The males of the heather grasshopper are about 15 to 19 millimeters long, the females reach a size of 21 to 26 millimeters. It is thus the largest Central European species within the genus Stenobothrus .
Its unique singing, which can be heard about 5 m away, is characteristic, a strange rising and falling buzzing that lasts for 10 to 20 seconds.
Way of life
The heather grasshopper feeds on various grasses and herbs. It lays its eggs in the lower leaf sheaths of grasses, so that its populations are damaged by deep browsing (sheep, goats) or intensive mowing.
The heather grasshopper lives in permanently short-grass areas of sandy lawns, pastures and rocky crests, generally in dry areas. It prefers steeper drifts and embankments that are open to the south, preferably not too often and intensively grazed with sheep. Its relationship to shady places (shrubs, blocks), which allow it to regulate its body temperature, is striking.
Adults can be found from early July to October.
Areas in which favorable conditions naturally prevail are rare, which is one of the reasons why the heather grasshopper is considered endangered (SH, B, NS, RLP, S) or extinct (Hamburg) in some federal states.
distribution
It occurs all over continental Europe except the north and Great Britain , in Germany it becomes rarer towards the north and is absent in northern Schleswig-Holstein .
literature
- Heiko Bellmann : Locusts: observe, determine , Naturbuch Verlag 1993, ISBN 3-894-40028-5
- Saxon State Office for Environment and Geology (Hrsg.): Red list locusts. Dresden 1994
Web links
- Stenobothrus lineatus in Fauna Europaea
- Stenobothrus lineatus at Orthoptera.ch