Orthopteran, Cyprus (1 Viewer)

[Andy Adcock]

Getting these in my moth trap every night at the moment, ID help appreciated, over to you Paul

 

[pdwinter]

I think Acrotylus patruelis Slender Digging Grasshopper - that's what would go in my notebook. Assuming I've got the genus right (!) then the two species you get in Cyprus are the same two that occur in Málaga province fortunately.

 

[Andy Adcock]

I think Acrotylus patruelis Slender Digging Grasshopper - that's what would go in my notebook. Assuming I've got the genus right (!) then the two species you get in Cyprus are the same two that occur in Málaga province fortunately.

Many thanks again Paul.

 

[Andy Adcock]

Hi Paul,
not sure about this ID, A. patruelis seems to have longer, slimmer, wings than mine?

European locusts and their ecology: Acrotylus patruelis

www.pyrgus.de

 

[pdwinter]

Hi Paul,
not sure about this ID, A. patruelis seems to have longer, slimmer, wings than mine?

European locusts and their ecology: Acrotylus patruelis

www.pyrgus.de

The wings look fine to me.

My ID is based on (a) the long antennae (shorter and chunkier in insubricus) (b) the ariolum between the tarsal claws is chunky (in insubricus you can hardly see it) (c) the pronotum looks flat across its median carina (in insubricus there is a raised bump towards the front of the pronotum) and (d) the forewing has two distinct black bands which go right the way across the forewing (but tend not to go past the median area in insubricus)

Species vary in features depending which country they are found in e.g. Wartbiters have considerably longer forewings in south-eastern europe than they do in e.g. the UK, and body sizes can vary quite a bit.

The hindwing pattern would clinch it but I expect it's back out in the field now

 

[Andy Adcock]

Cheers Paul,
yes, always release stuff as quickly as possible but if I get one tonight, I'll fridge it and try and get a pic of the hindwing.

 

[pdwinter]

A pic from above and a pic from the side as in the one today are usually enough - but when you get into the ones with the coloured hindwings it gets tricky!

I'm still a bit worried that I may have gone to the wrong genus (Acrotylus) so I did a bit of reading with the help of google translate and found in the latest version of Bellman that for A.insubricus "on the sides of the pronotum is a large dark spot with a typical white dot" which I can see in the photos on pyrgus.de and then on the individuals in my lightroom catalog. I never get a "because" clause - just an ID - in the spanish forum so I was ignorant of this feature!

I still could have got to the wrong genus though

 

[Andy Adcock]

Thanks for this Paul,
I'll do my best tomorrow if I get another, had at least one, every night this week so far.

 

[Andy Adcock]

Not sure this is the same as the last one Paul but it's the only one I've had since.

A

 

[pdwinter]

Not sure this is the same as the last one Paul but it's the only one I've had since.

A

I thought I might have ballsed up the first one (at least I got to Oedipodinae subfamily !)

This is an Aiolopus species and I think Aiolopus strepens but the other one you have on Cyprus is A. thalassinus and I don't have any field experience of that. The keys I have would suggest that a hind femur length / max width ratio about 3.6 or less would be strepens and 3.8 and above would be thalassinus (or if you're in Málaga province puissanti !) - but I'm not sure we can work that out from the 1st image in these pics.

In the pic in your original post I work out the ratio to be about 3.6 which would fit with Aiolopus strepens. Not quite sure why I thought it was Acrotylus - they are incredibly hairy, even hairier than our UK Field Grasshopper

 

[Andy Adcock]

Many thanks Paul.