Sigaus tumidicauda

Last updated

Sigaus tumidicauda
NZAcrididae10.JPG
Female
Scientific classification OOjs UI icon edit-ltr.svg
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Orthoptera
Suborder: Caelifera
Family: Acrididae
Genus: Sigaus
Species:
S. tumidicauda
Binomial name
Sigaus tumidicauda
(Bigelow, 1967)  [1]
NZAcrididae11.png
The distribution of S. tumidicauda in New Zealand

Sigaus tumidicauda is a species of alpine grasshopper, endemic to New Zealand. [2] Like all of New Zealand sub-alpine and alpine grasshoppers, S. tumidicauda has a 2- or 3-year life cycle. The eggs must "overwinter" before they will hatch. Hoppers are found throughout the year, and adult grasshoppers can be found throughout the New Zealand summer between December and April. This grasshopper is flightless.

Contents

Distribution and habitat

An overview S. tumidicauda habitat. Mount Burn .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct,.mw-parser-output .geo-inline-hidden{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap} 45deg44'46''S 167deg24'29''E / 45.746195degS 167.407987degE / -45.746195; 167.407987 NZAcrididae14.JPG
An overview S. tumidicauda habitat.
Mount Burn 45°44′46″S167°24′29″E / 45.746195°S 167.407987°E / -45.746195; 167.407987

Sigaus tumidicauda is known only from the Otago and Southland regions of the South Island of New Zealand. [3] It can be found as far south as Cleughearn Peak ( 45°49′43″S167°24′11″E / 45.8287°S 167.4030°E / -45.8287; 167.4030 (Cleughearn Peak) ) and as far north as Mount Aurum ( 44°46′10″S168°37′21″E / 44.7695°S 168.6225°E / -44.7695; 168.6225 (Mount Aurum) ).Sigaus tumidicauda prefers alpine tussock grasslands between 1,300 and 1,700 metres (4,300 and 5,600 ft); it can, however, be found as low as 700 metres (2,300 ft) near the Nevis River ( 45°08′49″S169°00′00″E / 45.147°S 169.000°E / -45.147; 169.000 (Nevis River) ). It is one of three known species of alpine grasshoppers that are found in Fiordland, the other two being Sigaus homerensis and Sigaus takahe . [4]

Alpinacris tumidicauda is sister to the widespread species Sigaus australis . [5] The genus Alpinacris included Alpinacris crassicauda previously thought to be sister to A.tumidicauda. [6] [7] Climate change will reduce the current range of this species by 35 – 75%. [8]

Species description

Sigaus tumidicauda is micropterous (small-winged), with wings measuring between 2 and 4 millimetres (0.079 and 0.157 in), making this species flightless like most New Zealand grasshoppers. Male body length is 12–14 millimetres (0.47–0.55 in); female body length is 21–24 millimetres (0.83–0.94 in).

Sigaus tumidicauda was described in 1967 by Robert Sidney Bigelow, [1] in the genus Alpinacris, with a type locality of Obelisk (Māori : Kopuwai) in the Old Man Range ( 45°19′22″S169°12′27″E / 45.3228°S 169.2074°E / -45.3228; 169.2074 (Obelisk) ). A male holotype and paratype are deposited in the Canterbury Museum, Christchurch.

Type information

Polymorphism

Four colour morphs are known for adult S. tumidicauda: green, olive, dark olive and yellow-brown. The most common colour morph is green, followed by the yellow-brown colour morph.

References

  1. 1 2 R. S. Bigelow (1967). The Grasshoppers of New Zealand, their Taxonomy and Distribution. Christchurch: University of Canterbury.
  2. ↑ Trewick, Steven A.; Koot, Emily M.; Morgan-Richards, Mary (2023). "Māwhitiwhiti Aotearoa: Phylogeny and synonymy of the silent alpine grasshopper radiation of New Zealand (Orthoptera: Acrididae)". Zootaxa. 5383 (2): 225–241. doi:10.11646/zootaxa.5383.2.7. ISSN   1175-5334.
  3. ↑ Morris SJ. 2002. Distribution and Taxonomic status of New Zealand endangered grasshoppers (Orthoptera: Acrididae). Department of Conservation, Wellington.
  4. ↑ Morris, S.J. 2003: Two new species of Sigaus from Fiordland, New Zealand (Orthoptera: Acrididae). New Zealand entomologist, 26: 65–74. PDF Archived 2011-07-21 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ↑ Koot, Emily M.; Morgan-Richards, Mary; Trewick, Steven A. (2020). "An alpine grasshopper radiation older than the mountains, on Kā Tiritiri o te Moana (Southern Alps) of Aotearoa (New Zealand)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 147: 106783. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2020.106783. ISSN   1055-7903.
  6. ↑ Trewick SA, Wallis GP. 2001: Bridging the “beech-gap”: New Zealand invertebrate phylogeography implicates Pleistocene glaciation and pliocene isolation. Evolution 55, No. 11: 2170–2180.
  7. ↑ Heads, M. 1998. Biogeographic disjunction along the Alpine Fault, New Zealand. Biol. J. Linn. Soc. 63:161–176.
  8. ↑ Koot, Emily M.; Morgan-Richards, Mary; Trewick, Steven A. (2022). "Climate change and alpine-adapted insects: modelling environmental envelopes of a grasshopper radiation". Royal Society Open Science. 9 (3). doi:10.1098/rsos.211596. ISSN   2054-5703. PMC   8889178 . PMID   35316945.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.