Western snake
| Western snake | ||||||||||||
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Western bite insect ( Platycleis albopunctata ), ♂ |
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Platycleis albopunctata | ||||||||||||
| ( Goeze , 1778) |
The western bite insect ( Platycleis albopunctata ) is a long-feeler insect from the superfamily of the grasshopper (Tettigonioidea).
features
The animals are 18 to 22 millimeters long, with females being slightly larger than males. Adult animals are brown to gray in color. They are long-winged and therefore easy to fly. The wings are dark brown and spotted white. On the top of the head and on the pronotum , the animals usually have a red-brown to beige color. Greenish specimens are also rarely found. The laying tube ( ovipositor ) of the female is about 10 millimeters long and clearly curved upwards. The cerci of the males have teeth just before the tip.
Occurrence
The extremely warmth-loving animals are found mainly in Central and Western Europe . Their distribution area extends from Portugal and Spain in the west to Poland in the east. In the north of Germany their populations are strongly declining, in the south, however, the animals are common. They live in dry, little overgrown areas, especially on stony southern slopes, on dry grass or open sandy areas and beach dunes. You can find them from June to September.
Way of life
The western snake feeds on small insects and delicate plant parts. The eggs are laid in dry plant stems or sludge . The diurnal animals are very shy in warm temperatures and move quickly. Her singing consists of fine chirps, which usually form a verse of four notes. If the animals are active because of high temperatures, such a "sisi-sisib" does not last longer than about 0.2 seconds.
Hazard and protection
- Red list FRG: 3 (endangered).
credentials
- ↑ Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (Ed.): Red List of Endangered Animals in Germany. Landwirtschaftsverlag, Münster 1998, ISBN 978-3-89624-110-8
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 .
