Ephippiger terrestris | |
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Ephippiger terrestris bormansi. Male, side view | |
Dorsal view | |
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Insecta |
Order: | Orthoptera |
Suborder: | Ensifera |
Family: | Tettigoniidae |
Genus: | Ephippiger |
Species: | E. terrestris |
Binomial name | |
Ephippiger terrestris Yersin, 1854 | |
Synonyms | |
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Ephippiger terrestris, common name Alpine saddle-backed bush-cricket, is a bush cricket species belonging to the family Tettigoniidae, subfamily Bradyporinae. [1]
Subspecies include: [2]
This species is present in Middle and Southwestern Europe (France, Italy and Switzerland). [3] [4] The subspecies E. terrestris bormansi occurs only in northern Italy and southern Switzerland. [5]
This species occurs in warm mountain meadows and pastures, in open rocks and in dwarf shrubs, [5] at an elevation of 1,000–2,000 metres (3,300–6,600 ft) above sea level. [6]
Ephippiger terrestris can reach a body length of about 23–28 mm (0.91–1.10 in) in males, of about 28–32 mm (1.1–1.3 in) in females, while ovipositor can reach about 25–28 mm (0.98–1.10 in). [5]
These bush crickets are usually bluish-green. However, in both sexes the body color is quite variable and often olive-green, beige and sepia-brown color variations occur. A yellowish line runs from the lower edge of the pronotum to the abdomen end. Two bright longitudinal lines run along the back sides. [5]
The back of the head is black. The form of the pronotum is rather smooth and gently concave and resembles a saddle (the Latin name ephippium means 'saddle of a horse'). They have round small atrophied wings, protruding a few millimeters below the pronotum, that are unfit to flight and only used for the emission of sounds (stridulation). In the females the ovipositor is long and slightly curved upwards. In the male cerci stand out clearly and are cylindrical and relatively long. [5]
Adults can be found from July to October. [6] The larvae go through about 5 stages. These bush crickets are omnivorous. Both the male and the female can produce sounds, even if the female does so rarely and only in response to other males. [5] [6]
Insects in the family Tettigoniidae are commonly called katydids or bush crickets. They have previously been known as "long-horned grasshoppers". More than 8,000 species are known. Part of the suborder Ensifera, the Tettigoniidae are the only extant (living) family in the superfamily Tettigonioidea.
Roesel's bush-cricket, Roeseliana roeselii is a European bush-cricket, named after August Johann Rösel von Rosenhof, a German entomologist.
The wart-biter is a bush-cricket in the family Tettigoniidae. Its common and scientific names derive from the eighteenth-century Swedish practice of allowing the crickets to nibble at warts to remove them.
The speckled bush-cricket is a flightless species of bush-cricket belonging to the family Tettigoniidae. The species was originally described as Locusta punctatissima in 1792.
Saga pedo is a species of wingless bush cricket from the southern half of Europe and western and central Asia. This brown or green bush cricket typically has a total length, from the head to the tip of the ovipositor, of up to 10.5 cm (4.1 in), but exceptionally it may reach 12 cm (4.7 in), which makes it one of the largest European insects and one of the world's largest Orthoptera. The head-and-body alone typically is 5–7 cm (2.0–2.8 in) long in adults, but may reach up to 7.8 cm (3.1 in).
Aiolopus strepens is a species of grasshopper belonging to the family Acrididae, subfamily Oedipodinae.
Ephippiger is a genus of Palaearctic bush crickets described by Berthold in 1827, belonging to the family Tettigoniidae, subfamily Bradyporinae and tribe Ephippigerini.
Metaplastes pulchripennis, common name Italian ornate bush-cricket, is a species of 'katydids crickets' belonging to the family Tettigoniidae subfamily Phaneropterinae.
Yersinella raymondii, common name Raymond's bush-cricket, is a species of "katydids crickets" belonging to the family Tettigoniidae subfamily Tettigoniinae. The scientific name Yersinella comes from the name of the entomologist who has described the species in 1860.
Conocephalus fuscus, the long-winged conehead, is a member of the family Tettigoniidae, the bush-crickets and is distributed through much of Europe and temperate Asia. This bush-cricket is native to the British Isles where it may confused with the short-winged conehead. These two species are phenotypically similar; however, the distinguishing factor between the two is the fully developed set of wings the long-winged conehead possesses that allows for flight. In the short-winged coneheads the hind wings are shorter than the abdomen, causing the wings to be vestigial and the species is incapable of flight. For this reason it is hard to discriminate between the two species during the early stages of their life cycle before the wings have fully developed. The colouration of the conehead is typically a grass green with a distinctive brown stripe down its back, though there are some brown phenotypes.
Pholidoptera griseoaptera, the dark bush-cricket, is a flightless species of European bush-cricket; it is the type species of its genus with no subspecies.
Barbitistes obtusus, the southern saw-tailed bush-cricket or Alpine saw bush-cricket, is a species of bush crickets in the subfamily Phaneropterinae.
Antaxius pedestris is a species of "bush crickets" belonging to the family Tettigoniidae. It was originally described by Johan Christian Fabricius under the scientific name of Locusta pedestris.
Leptophyes is a genus of bush-crickets found in Africa, Asia, and Europe. The genus was erected by Franz Xaver Fieber in 1853.
Leptophyes laticauda is a species of bush-crickets belonging to the family Tettigoniidae.
Ephippiger perforatus, the North Apennine saddle bush-cricket, is a species of insect in the family Tettigoniidae.
Pamphagus sardeus is a large species of Pamphagidae and one of the most massive Italian Orthoptera.
Svercus palmetorum is a small species of cricket, and the sole member of the genus Svercus.
Natula averni is one of the smallest and most elusive species of cricket living in the Mediterranean Basin.
Andreiniimon is a monotypic genus of European bush crickets in the subfamily Phaneropterinae and tribe Barbitistini, erected by F. Capra in 1937.