Red mace horror
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Red mace insect ( Gomphocerippus rufus ) |
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| ( Linnaeus , 1758) |
The red club insect ( Gomphocerippus rufus ) is a short-antennae insect from the family of field locusts (Acrididae). The species is the only one of its kind in Europe. Their males have a particularly complex courtship behavior that can take up to 15 minutes. The species occurs in almost all of Eurasia and lives in dry to slightly damp, well-structured habitats. Its existence is not endangered.
features
The animals reach a body length of 14 to 16 millimeters (males) or 17 to 23 millimeters (females). The basic color varies a lot and ranges in different shades from brown to gray, but can also be ocher-colored or reddish to strong dark red. A characteristic feature of the species are the lanceolate, widened antennae lobes, which are particularly well defined in the male, which are black in color and have a white tip. This white tip makes it easy to distinguish the species from other species that also have such antennae lobes. The labial and maxillary palps are white. The pronotum has a central seam and is straight on the back when viewed from the side. The side keels, which are often finely drawn in white, are broadly lined with black and bent towards the front third. The gray-brown forewings are slightly bulged at the front edge, but have no enlarged medial field . They are longer in the males and reach a little above the knees of the hind legs, in the females they do not quite reach the knees. The end of the abdomen of the males is reddish brown to red.
Occurrence
The species is widespread in Europe and Asia and occurs from France across Central Europe to Manchuria and almost all of Siberia . In the north, the distribution limit initially runs through the south of Great Britain , further through Belgium and northern Germany, and then extends far north into northernmost Scandinavia . The southern limit of the distribution is reached in the west in the Pyrenees , further east in southern Italy and the Balkan Peninsula . The species is also absent on the French Atlantic coast. It has been found in the Alps up to an altitude of around 2480 meters above sea level, but occurs there most frequently between 100 and 800 meters. Their occurrence there is essentially limited to temperature-favored southern slopes.
The red club insect is warmth-loving and colonizes open, dry to slightly damp habitats that are well structured. They are mainly found on the edges of forests, hedges, clearings and in meadows with tall grass and also on dry grass . Fat meadows and short pastures are avoided.
Way of life
The red club insect feeds on herbivores , especially on sweet grasses , other herbaceous plants and rushes are rarely eaten. The animals avoid sitting on the ground, but prefer to stay in sunny places higher up, such as blackberry leaves but also herbaceous plants. They are able to fly and thus colonize new ruderal areas that have arisen, for example, from wind breaks, but only individual animals of a population move over longer distances, which is why suitable connections such as forest edges or embankments between subpopulations are necessary. The animals are good climbers in the vegetation and can easily jump off thin stalks. The adults are very tolerant of cold and snow and can even be observed in places until mid-December.
Courtship and mating
The males start singing one to two days after the last moult, the females only after another six to eight days. The singing of the males is reminiscent of that of the nightingale grasshopper ( Chorthippus biguttulus ), but is softer and without metallic sounds. It consists of verses lasting about five seconds, consisting of about 30 hissing "sh-sh-sh ..." or "srt-srt-srt ..." sounds in quick succession. These sounds are generated by an overlapping movement of the legs, with the thighs vibrating irregularly and moving up and down about four times per second at the same time. There are regular chants from males and females. The male climbs through the vegetation while singing in search of females. If a female is found, a three-phase advertising chant follows, which consists of "shi-shi-shi" sounds and which is then combined with distinctive feeler and palp movements, which increase in intensity over time. The male first swings his head and palps back and forth, then the antennae are quickly raised and lowered onto the female. Now the head is held still and the palps make trembling movements. Then the feelers are pulled back in a flash and a “zig” sound is emitted at the same time. This part of the ritual can repeat itself before the entire commercial dance is performed again. The entire ritual can last up to 15 minutes without a break. If the female is willing to mate, it finally answers with very soft sounds and mating takes place. The spermatophore is transferred shortly after mating begins.
development
The females lay their eggs in semi-arid soils in the root network of grasses. Drier soils are avoided, sandy and gravelly terrain is preferred to rocky ones. Around eight to nine eggs are laid in egg packets per clutch; a female only creates about five clutches in total. After the eggs have been laid, the hole is closed with scratching and pounding movements with the hind legs. The eggs laid in autumn hibernate, the larvae only hatch in the spring of the following year. Their development is strongly dependent on the temperature and is optimal at around 30 ° C. The first adults appear from the end of June, most are fully developed in August and live well into autumn. The peak of the populations is only in September, so that the species appears dominant over other locusts in late autumn.
Hazard and protection
The red club insect is common in Central Europe, especially in the south to Central Germany, which is why it is considered safe. However, it can be assumed that individual sub-populations are affected by the poor mobility of the type of isolation, as suitable composite structures between the individual habitats are becoming increasingly rare.
swell
Individual evidence
- ↑ Gomphocerippus rufus . Fauna Europaea. Retrieved January 31, 2009.
literature
- Bertrand & Hannes Baur, Christian & Daniel Roesti: The locusts of Switzerland . Haupt Verlag, Bern 2006, ISBN 3-258-07053-9 .
- Heiko Bellmann : The cosmos of locust leaders, defining the types of Central Europe with certainty . Franckh-Kosmos Verlags-GmbH & Co KG, Stuttgart 2006, ISBN 3-440-10447-8 .
- Peter Detzel: The locusts of Baden-Württemberg . Eugen Ulmer GmbH & Co, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-8001-3507-8 .
