Flower crickets
| Flower crickets | ||||||||||
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Female of the wine cockerel |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||
| Oecanthinae | ||||||||||
| Blanchard , 1845 |
The flower crickets (Oecanthinae) are a subfamily of the family of real crickets and thus belong to the order of long- feeler terrors (Ensifera). Some authors also see the group as a separate family Oecanthidae.
features
Like other long- feeler terrors and crickets, flower crickets have elongated hind legs that are adapted for jumping and long, string-like antennae . As with other crickets, the wings of the flower crickets lie flat on top of each other, usually the right over the left fore wing. However, the appearance of the flower crickets differs significantly from that of other crickets. The body is usually translucent green or red-green, rarely dark.
All flower crickets are heat-loving and belong to the hemimetabolic group . This means that their larvae and nymphs look very similar to the adults and that they do not have a pupal stage.
communication
As with other crickets, the sound is generated via stridulation . Here, a serrated shrill loader on the underside of the right fore wing is moved back and forth over the trailing edge of the other fore wing. In the flower crickets, only the males stridulate. They set up their forewings steeply. The stridulation serves to demarcate the territory and attract the females (lure song).
The males of some species sing in a natural indentation in a leaf or even in an opening specially eaten in the leaf ( Oecanthus burmeisteri ). The surrounding leaf then acts like an open baffle , which enables higher sound energy to be emitted. Otherwise, the relatively low-frequency wing vibrations in relation to the size of the animals would generate lower air sound intensities .
On the basis of the number of sounds emitted by Oecanthus fultoni within a certain time interval, conclusions can be drawn about the current air temperature at the location of the animal using Dolbear's law .
Reproduction
As soon as the female has reached a male singing with the species-specific lure song, the male straightens his wings. The female climbs over the male and begins to take in a glandular secretion secreted by the male at a pit at the base of the wing. During this time, the male attaches the spermatophore to the female. Even after mating, the female continues to take in secretions. This ensures that as many sperm as possible reach the egg cells and fertilize them.
Systematics
- Tribus Oecanthini
Blanchard , 1845
- Genus Oecanthodes Toms & Otte , 1988 (East Africa)
- Genus Oecanthus Serville , 1831 (distributed worldwide)
- Genus Viphyus Otte , 1988 (Central Africa)
- Tribus Xabeini Vickery & DKM Kevan , 1983
- Genus group Prognathogryllus Zimmerman , 1948.
- Genus Leptogryllus Perkins , 1899 (Hawaii)
- Genus Thaumatogryllus Perkins , 1899 (Hawaii)
- Generic group Xabea Vickery & DKM Kevan , 1983.
- Genus group Prognathogryllus Zimmerman , 1948.
- Genus Paraphasius Chopard , 1927 (only species P. lepturoides Chopard , 1927) (distribution and location unknown)
species
Europe:
- Oecanthus dulcisonans (Southern Europe)
- Wine-chickens - Oecanthus pellucens (only species in Central Europe)
Rest of the world selection:
- Neoxabea bipunctata (Two-spotted Tree Cricket) (Eastern US except Florida)
- Oecanthus burmeisteri (east of southern Africa)
- Oecanthus celerinictus (Fast-calling Tree Cricket) (Southeast US except Florida)
- Oecanthus exclamationis (Davis's Tree Cricket) (Eastern US and Arizona)
- Oecanthus fultoni (Snowy Tree Cricket, "Thermometer Cricket") (USA except Florida)
- Oecanthus latipennis (Broad-winged Tree Cricket) (Eastern US except Florida)
- Oecanthus nigricornis (Black-horned Tree Cricket) (Northeastern USA)
- Oecanthus niveus (Narrow-winged Tree Cricket) (Eastern USA)
- Oecanthus pini (Pine Tree Cricket) (Eastern US except Florida)
- Oecanthus quadripunctatus (Four-spotted Tree Cricket) (Northeastern US)
literature
- L. Elliott, W. Hershberger: The songs of insects. Houghton Mifflin, Boston 2007, ISBN 978-0-618-66397-2 .
Individual evidence
- ^ L. Elliott, W. Hershberger: The songs of insects. Houghton Mifflin, Boston 2007, ISBN 978-0-618-66397-2 .
- ↑ L. Prozesky-Schulze, OPM Prozesky, F. Anderson, GJJ van der Merwe: Use of a self-made sound baffle by a tree cricket. In: Nature. 255, 1975, pp. 142-143. doi: 10.1038 / 255142a0
- ^ W. Loher, M. Dambach: Reproductive Behavior. In: F. Huber, TE Moore, W. Loher (Eds.): Cricket Behavior and Neurobiology. Cornell University Press, Ithaca 1989, ISBN 0-8014-2272-8 .
