''Brachytrupes megacephalus'' is a species of

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

in the family

Gryllidae The family ''Gryllidae'' contains the subfamilies and genera which entomologists now term true crickets. Having long, whip-like antennae, they belong to the Orthopteran suborder Ensifera, which has been greatly reduced in the last 100 years (''e ...

Description and behavior

''Brachytrupes megacephalus'' can reach a length of about . This species is characterized by a very large head (hence the species name ''megacephalus'') and strong jaws. The tibia of the front and rear legs are armed with big teeth which facilitate the action of digging the deep holes in sandy soils in which these crickets live. These insects have crepuscular and nocturnal habits. The mating period extends from mid-March to the end of April. After mating, the males keep the females captive in their holes until they lay their eggs.

Distribution and habitat

This species can be found in sandy environments in

Sardinia Sardinia ( ; it, Sardegna, label=Italian, Corsican and Tabarchino ; sc, Sardigna , sdc, Sardhigna; french: Sardaigne; sdn, Saldigna; ca, Sardenya, label=Algherese and Catalan) is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, after ...

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

and

North Africa North Africa, or Northern Africa is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region, and it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of Mauritania in ...

.Fauna europaea
/ref> Erminia Cont
Eco-ethology of Brachytrupes megacephalus (Orthoptera, Gryllidae), protected species in UE
/ref>

Bibliography

* Saussure. 1877
Mem. Soc. Phys. Hist. Nat. Geneve 25(1):285 [117]
* Kirby, W.F. 1906
A Synonymic Catalogue of Orthoptera (Orthoptera Saltatoria, Locustidae vel Acridiidae) 2:23
* Giglio-Tos. 1907
Boll. Musei Zool. Anat. Comp. R. Univ. Torino 22(563):23
* Lefebvre. 1827. Ann. Soc. Linn. Paris 6:10 * Serville
Histoire naturelle des insectes. Orthoptères 326
* Randell. 1964. Canadian Ent. 96:1587 >> Brachytrupes megacephalus * Massa. 2009. Jour. Orth. Res. 18(1):78 >> Brachytrupes megacephalus * Cassar. 2009. Bulletin of the Entomological Society of Malta 2:126 >> Brachytrupes megacephalus * Sahnoun, Doumandji & Desutter-Grandcolas. 2010. Zootaxa 2432:8 >> Brachytrupes megacephalus * Brizio, C. 2018
Biodiversity Journal, 2018, 9 (2): 135–142
>> Bioacoustic evidence of two uncommon crickets from SW Sardinia, including an analysis of the song of ''B. megacephalus '' in the ultrasonic range

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q10434535 Gryllinae Insects described in 1827