Arcyptera fusca

Arcyptera fusca
Arcyptera fusca, female
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Hexapoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Orthoptera
Family: Acrididae
Genus: Arcyptera
Species: A. fusca
Binomial name
Arcyptera fusca
(Pallas, 1773)
Synonyms
  • Arcyptera stolli Fieber, 1853
  • Gryllus cothurnatus Creutzer, 1799
  • Gryllus fuscus Pallas, 1773
  • Gryllus nympha Stoll, C., 1813
  • Gryllus variegatus Sulzer, 1776
  • Gryllus versicolor Gmelin, 1788
  • Acryptera fusca (misspelling)

Arcyptera fusca, the 'Large Banded Grasshopper', is a species of 'short-horned grasshoppers' belonging to the family Acrididae subfamily Gomphocerinae.

This species is native of the steppes of Central Asia, but it is nowadays present in most of Europe, in estern Palearctic ecozone and in the Near East.

Arcyptera fusca, mating couple

It is a medium-sized grasshopper characterized by a significant sexual dimorphism. Males have developed functional wings covering the abdomen, while females have rudimentary wings, shorter than abdomen and unfit for flight (brachyptery).

The adult males grow up to 22–35 millimetres (0.87–1.38 in) long, while females reach 29–44 millimetres (1.1–1.7 in) of length. The hind tibiae have a characteristic bright red color that extended to the inner face of femora. The knees are black, surrounded by a white band.

They can be encountered in the alpine meadows, mountain pastures and grasslands, especially feeding on Poaceae species.

Males use a range of different stridulations for signaling their presence in the territory, for engaging in a dispute with a rival of the same sex or for courting females. Eggs are spawned in oothecae in short tunnels dug in the ground.

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External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 8/16/2014. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.