Heteropternis obscurella
| Heteropternis obscurella | ||||||||||||
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Heteropternis obscurella |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Heteropternis obscurella | ||||||||||||
| ( Blanchard , 1853) |
Heteropternis obscurella ( English "Long-legged bandwing") is a short -antennae insectfrom the family of field locusts (Acrididae), whichis widespreadin Australia and Southeast Asia .
features
Adult females can grow to be between 25 and 35 millimeters long, while males reach a length of 20 to 25 millimeters. The body color of the adults is typically dark brown to almost black. In profile, the head is held roughly at the same level or only slightly higher than the pronotum . The pronotum itself has a slight keel in the middle. The overall dark speckled wings have a darker spot at their end. The thighs ( femurs ) have a diamond shape on top, the splints ( tibia ) are colored red. The smoky gray colored hind wings have an indistinctly limited spot at their end.
The adult animals of the species can easily be confused with the "Australian plague locust" Chortoicetes terminifera , which has a similar size, shape and color. The body of Chortoicetes terminifera is, however, lighter and less stocky compared to Heteropternis obscurella and the spot on the hind wings is more clearly delimited. In addition, after short flights , Chortoicetes terminifera usually lands facing the observer, which is not the rule with heteropternis obscurella .
The nymphs are also mostly dark brown to black in color, sometimes also greenish. In the early stages of development they have a clearly developed lateral light stripe that runs from under the eye to the middle of the pronotum. In the brown-colored individuals this stripe is whitish, in the green animals it has a pale green color. In later stages of development, this stripe remains visible on the head, but becomes more indistinct on the pronotum and a lighter colored collar develops on the rear edge of the shield instead. The legs and the underside of the body are thickly covered with hair. The dark colored antennae have a light tip and are slightly longer than the head is high. The femurs show a distinct ligament, especially in the early stages of development, which then becomes less pronounced over time. The tibiae are dark overall, but their upper quarter is lighter.
The nymphs can also be confused with those of Chortoicetes terminifera , which in turn are similar in size, shape and color. The main distinguishing features from the nymphs of Chortoicetes terminifera are the light-colored head stripe, a light-colored collar and the lack of an X-shaped mark on the top of the pronotum.
Occurrence and habitat
On the Australian continent is Heteropternis obscurella spread endemic and especially in the tropical and subtropical coastal regions. The species occurs in all federal territories with the exception of Tasmania . The species is common in most parts of the country , only isolated populations are known from the more moderate climatic regions of South Australia and Victoria . A small number of populations has also been detected in the arid interior of the continent, particularly in eastern Western Australia and the southern Northern Territory .
Outside the Australian continent, Heteropternis obscurella is widespread in New Guinea and on the island world of eastern Indonesia .
Way of life
The species feeds on sugar cane ( Saccharum officinarum ) and okra ( Abelmoschus esculentus ), but the damage caused in plantations is classified as low , at least in Papua New Guinea . It is parasitized by mites of the genera Trombella and Charletonia , which usually attach to the membrane between the prothorax and mesothorax .
Systematics
The species was first described in 1853 by the French entomologist Charles Émile Blanchard , who gave it the name Oedipoda obscurella . The type specimen is in the Muséum national d'histoire naturelle in Paris . The British entomologist William Forsell Kirby classified the species in the genus Chortoicetes in 1910 .
The name Heteropternis obscurella , which is valid today , was given in 1920 by the Swedish entomologist Yngve Sjöstedt . According to the current state of knowledge, 18 other species belong to the genus Heteropternis , which are common in Australia and the Old World .
swell
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Heteropternis obscurella. (No longer available online.) In: Australian Locust and Grasshopper Identification Guide. Australian Government, Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, April 13, 2007, archived from the original on June 18, 2009 ; accessed on October 5, 2009 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ a b Heteropternis obscurella (nymph). (No longer available online.) In: Australian Locust and Grasshopper Identification Guide. Australian Government, Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, April 13, 2007, archived from the original on June 23, 2009 ; accessed on October 5, 2009 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Bernard John & Max King: Meiotic Effects of Supernumerary Heterochromatin in Heteropternis obscurella . In: Chromosoma . tape 85 , 1982, pp. 39-65 (English).
- ^ A b Bruce R French: Insect Pests of Food Plants of Papua New Guinea. (PDF; 7.5 MB) Food Plants International, 2009, p. 188 , accessed on October 5, 2009 (English).
- ↑ DC Eades & D. Otte: Distribution for species Heteropternis obscurella (Blanchard, 1853). In: Orthoptera Species File Online. Retrieved October 5, 2009 .
- ↑ Saccharum officinarum . Food Plants International, accessed October 5, 2009 .
- ^ KHL Key & RV Southcott: Host Relations and Distribution of Australian Species of Trombella (Acarina: Trombellidae) Parasitizing Grasshoppers . In: Australian Journal of Zoology . tape 34 , 1986, pp. 647-658 (English).
- ^ KHL Key: Host Relations and Distribution of Australian Species of Charletonia (Acarina: Erythraeidae) Parasitizing Grasshoppers . In: Australian Journal of Zoology . tape 39 , 1991, pp. 31-43 (English).
- ^ Charles Émile Blanchard : Description des insectes . In: Hombrom, JB & Jacquinot, H. (Eds.): Voyage au Pôle Sud et dans l'Océanie sur les Corvettes l'Astrolabe et la Zélée; exécuté par ordre du Roi pendant les années 1837-1838-1839-1840. Zoology Vol. IV . Gide & Baudry, Paris 1853, p. 375 (English).
- ↑ DC Eades & D. Otte: Species Heteropternis obscurella (Blanchard, 1853). In: Orthoptera Species File Online. Retrieved October 5, 2009 .
- ^ William Forsell Kirby : A Synonymic Catalog of Orthoptera (Orthoptera Saltatoria, Locustidae vel Acridiidae) . tape 3 (2) . Taylor and Francis, 1910, p. 220 (English).
- ^ Yngve Sjöstedt : Results of Dr. E. Mjöberg's Swedish Scientific Expeditions to Australia 1910-1913 . In: Arkiv för Zoologi . 12 (20): Acridiodea, 1920, p. 10 (English).
- ↑ Heteropternis. Encyclopedia of Life , accessed October 6, 2009 .
- ↑ Megan Fries, William Chapco & Daniel Contreras: A molecular phylogenetic analysis of the Oedipodinae and their intercontinental relationships . In: Journal of Orthoptera Research . tape 16 (2) , 2007, pp. 115-125 (English).
literature
- CSIRO, Division of Entomology: Insects of Australia . Melbourne University Press, 1991, ISBN 0-522-84638-6 .
- David C. Rentz: Grasshopper Country - the Abundant Orthopteroid Insects of Australia . UNSW Press, 1996, ISBN 0-86840-063-7 .
- David C. Rentz, RC Lewis, YN Su and MS Upton: A Guide to Australian Grasshoppers and Locusts . Natural History Publications, Malaysia 2003, ISBN 983-812-074-X .
Web links
- Heteropternis obscurella. In: Australian Locust and Grasshopper Identification Guide. Australian Government, Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, April 13, 2007, accessed October 5, 2009 .