Short-winged bite insect
| Short-winged bite insect | ||||||||||||
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Short-winged bite insect ( Metrioptera brachyptera ), ♀ |
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| Metrioptera brachyptera | ||||||||||||
| ( Linnaeus , 1761) |
The short-winged bite insect ( Metrioptera brachyptera ) is a long-nose insect from the superfamily of the grasshopper (Tettigonioidea).
features
The animals reach a body length of 12 to 18 millimeters. They have a dark brown, often black body color. The top of the head, the pronotum and parts of the wings are usually colored green. The sides of the pronotum are finely lightened at the back. The wings are shortened, but there are rarely specimens with fully developed wings. The laying tube ( ovipositor ) of the female is 8 to 10 millimeters long and slightly curved upwards, the cerci of the male have teeth slightly in front of the middle.
Occurrence
Short-winged bites occur in Europe north to Lapland . They are missing on the Iberian Peninsula . The animals prefer to colonize moist meadows, but they are also occasionally found in dry, long-grass areas.
Stridulation organ
The locusts examined (30 males, 10 females) come from the Garching Heath north of Munich. The mean values for the lengths of the fore and hind wings of the males are 8.52 millimeters and 4.62 millimeters, respectively. In females, the fore wings are on average 7.83 millimeters, the hind wings 4.75 millimeters long. The mean value for the shrill ledge on the left wing is 1.67 millimeters and has an average of 90.17 shrill teeth. The mean value for the receding shrill ledge on the right wing is only 1.13 millimeters and has an average of just 52.10 shrill teeth. On the right wing the mirror is well developed. Its thin, unpigmented membrane is clamped in a chitin frame, the inner edge of which is reinforced (picture).
singing
The males combine three acoustic elements into a short “zrit” sound, which they utter in regular succession over a longer period of time. The singing can be heard over a distance of about two meters.
supporting documents
Individual evidence
- ↑ Anna Alfonsa Stark: Investigations on the sound organ of some crickets and grasshopper species, at the same time a contribution to the right-left problem. Zoological Yearbooks, Department of Anatomy and Ontogeny of Animals 77, pp. 9–50, 1958.
- ↑ Heiko Bellmann: Der Kosmos Heuschreckenführer, Determine the types of Central Europe safely , Franckh-Kosmos Verlag-GmbH & Co KG, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-440-10447-8 .
literature
- Heiko Bellmann : Der Kosmos Heuschreckenführer, The species of Central Europe safely determine , Franckh-Kosmos Verlag GmbH & Co KG, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-440-10447-8 .
- Peter Detzel: Locusts of Baden-Württemberg , Eugen Ulmer Verlag, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-8001-3507-8
- Helmut Schlumprecht and Georg Waeber (eds.): Heuschrecken in Bayern , Verlag Eugen Ulmer, Stuttgart, 2003, ISBN 3-8001-3883-2
