Petasida ephippigera
| Petasida ephippigera | ||||||||||||
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Illustration of the kind by Ludwig Leichhardt from 1847 |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Petasida | ||||||||||||
| White , 1845 | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the species | ||||||||||||
| Petasida ephippigera | ||||||||||||
| White , 1845 |
Petasida ephippigera (English Leichhardt's Grasshopper ) is a grasshopper fromthe cone-headed horror family (Pyrgomorphidae). It is the only species in the monotypic genus Petasida . Just like its sister genus Scutillya with its only representative Scutillya verrucosa ( Giant Spotted Pyrgomorpha ), it is endemic to Australia .
The grasshopper was first discovered by Edward John Eyre on the Victoria River in 1839 . Ludwig Leichhardt then came across this species as the second white man on his first expedition through Australia on November 17, 1845 in Arnhem Land on the South Alligator River and described it in his travel diary. This description also includes a drawing of the animals.
The grasshopper was originally named Paradise Grasshopper and was later given its current name in honor of Leichhardt. After Leichhardt's discovery in 1845, it took until 1973, i.e. 128 years, until specimens of Petasida ephippigera were found again.
features
Petasida ephippigera is striking because of its bright colors. The animals are mostly orange with blue spots mainly in the pronotum area . The abdomen is darkly spotted. There are differences in coloration between the individual populations.
Male animals are up to 53 mm long and are slimmer than the females, which are also slightly larger with up to 60 mm. The antennas are about 20 mm long.
Older nymphs are colored similarly to the adult animals, with the exception that later stages still have yellowish-white spots that fade in the adult stage. Early nymph stages show a pale green to yellowish color during the dry season, so that they are camouflaged in the vegetation.
Way of life
Around April, at the beginning of the dry season, the nymphs hatch from the eggs. They have stub wings and are about 5 mm in size. The young nymphs are inconspicuously colored, probably to protect them from predators, and grow only slowly until around August. When the temperature and humidity and thus the plant growth increase, the young grasshoppers also grow faster and develop their bright colors around September to October. Around November the animals are fully grown and after another two to three weeks they are able to mate. One or two stages of development before they are found in small groups of a few animals on suitable food plants. The mating season lasts for a few weeks, and around January / February the females begin to lay their eggs in damp sand. After mating and laying eggs, the adults die.
The animals specialize in a few food plants. Mainly they feed on plants from the endemic genus Pityrodia from the family of mint (Lamiaceae), while a few species are restricted to a few. In addition, they are sometimes found on plants of the genus Dampiera from the Goodeniaceae family , but much less often than on Pityrodia species. As with the coloration, there are differences between the individual populations of the preferred food plants. It was originally believed that the plants contain toxic compounds (mainly alkaloids ) and that the locusts ingest them and use them for their defense. In studies on this topic, however, only terpenes and flavonoids were detected, toxic alkaloids were not found. It may be bitter-tasting substances that are stored by the animals and thus serve as effective protection. Petasida ephippigera has no known predators among vertebrates . They show practically no escape behavior and are otherwise not very mobile. Despite their well-developed wings and the ability to fly, the locusts are very local and may spend their entire lives on the same plant.
The greatest danger to Petasida ephippigera is the regular bushfires . On the one hand, their food plants burn very well, on the other hand, as already mentioned, the locusts show no escape behavior and only fly short distances at most. The food plants recover within a few weeks, but the period without food is too long for any locusts that may survive. Once stocks are lost, they are only very slowly populated by new generations, if at all.
distribution
Petasida ephippigera occurs in northern Australia. The distribution area is limited to the Northern Territory and here again mainly to the area around the Kakadu National Park . There are currently around 30 known breeding sites for grasshoppers.
mythology
In the mythology of the Aborigines locusts have as the children of the Lightning Man ( Namarrgon ) and his wife Barrinj their place. The tribes of western Arnhem Land call the locusts Alyurr , who come out every year at the beginning of the rainy season to check on their father.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c d e f g PDF (approx. 2.3 MB) ( Memento of the original from June 6, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. : Australian Natural Heritage Trust, Review of selected Australia non-marine invertebrates, pp. 98ff
- ↑ a b c Lausitzer Rundschau Lausitzer Rundschau from November 17, 2010 on the 165th anniversary of the discovery by Leichhardt
- ^ Journal of an Overland Expedition in Australia from Morreton Bay to Port Essington, a Distance of Upwards of 3000 Miles During the Years 1844-1845 by Dr. Ludwig Leichhardt
- ↑ Thebigzoo The Big Zoo, Leichhardts_Grasshoppers
- ↑ a b ABC.net.au ABC Science
