Bush-cricket Bulgaria (1 Viewer)

[pdwinter]

Hoping for an ID on this Tettigoniinae from Byalgradets (southern central Bulgaria) on 15.06.2023
Not taken by me so I have no idea of size.
Thanks

 

[Andy Adcock]

If I was back in Russia, I'd call this a Wart-biter?

 

[pdwinter]

If I was back in Russia, I'd call this a Wart-biter?

Wart-biters have long wings (covering the abdomen at least) and if this was still a nymph she would be showing some large nymphal wingbuds when the ovipositor has reached this size.
I was thinking perhaps a Pholidoptera species but struggling on this one.
My mind drifts back to this thread Identification of European Orthoptera

 

[creaturesnapper]

Possibly — Eupholidoptera smyrnensis , The Smyrnean Bush-cricket .

 

[pdwinter]

Possibly — Eupholidoptera smyrnensis , The Smyrnean Bush-cricket .

Thanks creaturesnapper. Looking back through my pics I find I saw one in Bulgaria 5 years ago not too far (well a lot closer than from Southampton) from where this was photographed.

 

[Ficedula]

Thanks creaturesnapper. Looking back through my pics I find I saw one in Bulgaria 5 years ago not too far (well a lot closer than from Southampton) from where this was photographed.

I don't think this can be Eupholidoptera, which should normally be more colourful, have a black tip to abdomen just before ovipositor and have the pronotum extending further back such that the pale border stops well before the rear margin. I favour Pholidoptera but cant decide which species. Here are a male and female Eupholidoptera smyrnensis from Northern Greece this year.

 

[pdwinter]

I don't think this can be Eupholidoptera, which should normally be more colourful, have a black tip to abdomen just before ovipositor and have the pronotum extending further back such that the pale border stops well before the rear margin. I favour Pholidoptera but cant decide which species. Here are a male and female Eupholidoptera smyrnensis from Northern Greece this year.

Yes - agree not Eupholidoptera smyrnensis - my photos of male and female attached. I did a lot of searching on Bulgarian orthoptera and have the following potential Pholidoptera species for Bulgaria - aptera, fallax, frivaldszkyi, griseoaptera, littoralis, macedonica. In Chobanov's PHd thesis the only one in the region where the photo in the op was taken is Pholidoptera aptera - and having looked at the Research Grade images in iNaturalist and at pyrgus.de's page it could possibly be that species.

Out of interest, Ficedula, do you have the Harz european books on orthoptera ? I've been trying to find out if they are useful and still relevant today despite being published in the 1970s.

 

[Ficedula]

Yes - agree not Eupholidoptera smyrnensis - my photos of male and female attached. I did a lot of searching on Bulgarian orthoptera and have the following potential Pholidoptera species for Bulgaria - aptera, fallax, frivaldszkyi, griseoaptera, littoralis, macedonica. In Chobanov's PHd thesis the only one in the region where the photo in the op was taken is Pholidoptera aptera - and having looked at the Research Grade images in iNaturalist and at pyrgus.de's page it could possibly be that species.

Out of interest, Ficedula, do you have the Harz european books on orthoptera ? I've been trying to find out if they are useful and still relevant today despite being published in the 1970s.

No Paul, at £ 800+ for the three volumes way out of my range.

However I find Vol 1 here as free download, but appears to be in German only, and published 1947, whereas the advertised reprints are bi-lingual and published 1969 -1976? Not yet been through it thoroughly.
https://ia802905.us.archive.org/5/i...en-Europas-The-Orthoptera-Of-Europe-Vol-I.pdf

Will look for V2&3 - cant find them, still in copyright I expect?

This is the Orthoptera Literature pertaining to Europe I have

 

[pdwinter]

No Paul, at £ 800+ for the three volumes way out of my range.

However I find Vol 1 here as free download, but appears to be in German only, and published 1947, whereas the advertised reprints are bi-lingual and published 1969 -1976? Not yet been through it thoroughly.
https://ia802905.us.archive.org/5/i...en-Europas-The-Orthoptera-Of-Europe-Vol-I.pdf

Will look for V2&3 - cant find them, still in copyright I expect?

This is the Orthoptera Literature pertaining to Europe I have

Excellent - thanks for the pdf link. It is the 1969 book and all the keys (right down to species level) have an english version and the descriptions of family, subfamily (tribe if included), genus all have an English translation but the species description is only in German.

I will try to find the others.

I have the same books as you (plus a couple of earlier Bellmann and the earlier Sardet which I wouldn't have bought if I'd known about the planned English version!). I also use the ones in the pic below - the Articulata one is a Field Guide for the Pyrenean Region and in english, and the Swiss one (in German) is the only guide I've been able to find on nymphs.
As Spain is poorly represented in the literature I also use Revisión de los ortópteros (Insecta: Orthoptera) de Cataluña (España) pdf at http://sea-entomologia.org/PDF/MSEA7OrthopteraCataluñaResolucionModerada.pdf and during the pandemic (me and google) translated the keys into English.