David Element
Wildlife
Photography and Digital Video Images
_______________________________________________
Grasshoppers and Crickets 33 -
Mediterranean Bush Crickets
MEDITERRANEAN BUSH CRICKET Rhacocleis germanica (f) nymph
MEDITERRANEAN BUSH CRICKET Rhacocleis germanica (f) nymph
MEDITERRANEAN BUSH CRICKET Rhacocleis germanica (f) nymph
MEDITERRANEAN BUSH CRICKET Rhacocleis germanica (f) nymph
MEDITERRANEAN BUSH CRICKET Rhacocleis germanica (f) nymph
·
There are several other similar species to the Mediterranean Bush Cricket Rhacocleis
germanica in Southern Europe belonging to
the same genus or to the closely related genus Pterolepsis and for which clear photographs
of the abdominal appendages of adult males taken from several different angles would
be required in order to identify the insect to species – the shape of the
ovipositor is not unique so females will need to be identified by association. Geography
is important too. In this case knowing the location where the photographs were
taken was key to obtaining an unequivocal identification by excluding any other
possible candidates. These insects are brown, they possess short,
non-functional vestigial wings (so short that it would appear that they cannot
be seen at all in some cases – although it is not known if there is any
invisible wing-structure hidden underneath the pronotum in the case of R.
germanica), and with very long, curved ovipositors in the females. Some of
these are localised endemics restricted to Greece that have been geographically
and genetically isolated and R. germanica is by far the most widespread Rhacocleis species. This (presumed) final
instar female nymph was seen in the South of France (having compared the images
with reference photographs the ovipositor is proportionally longer compared to
the body length than it would have been in an adult). With thanks to Roy Kleukers for confirming the identification.
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