''Ephippiger perforatus'', the North Apennine saddle bush-cricket, is a species of
insect
Insects (from Latin ') are pancrustacean hexapod invertebrates of the class Insecta. They are the largest group within the arthropod phylum. Insects have a chitinous exoskeleton, a three-part body ( head, thorax and abdomen), three pairs ...
in the family
Tettigoniidae
Insects in the family Tettigoniidae are commonly called katydids (especially in North America), or bush crickets. They have previously been known as "long-horned grasshoppers". More than 8,000 species are known. Part of the suborder Ensifera, t ...
.
Distribution
''Ephippiger perforatus'' is
endemic
Endemism is the state of a species being found in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also found elsew ...
to
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...
. This species occurs from the Northwest to the Southern Itay, but in the southern part of its range it is much rarer and seems to be declining.
[IUCN]
/ref>
Habitat
These large bush-crickets inhabit shrubs and bushes and from the coasts to the mountains at an elevation of above sea level.[
]
Description
''Ephippiger perforatus'' can reach a body length of in males, of in females. The ovipositor
The ovipositor is a tube-like organ used by some animals, especially insects, for the laying of eggs. In insects, an ovipositor consists of a maximum of three pairs of appendages. The details and morphology of the ovipositor vary, but typical ...
reach about .[A. Har]
Die Orthopteren Europas / The Orthoptera of Europe, Volume 1
/ref> The body of these bush-crickets is usually light green. The pronotum
The prothorax is the foremost of the three segments in the thorax of an insect, and bears the first pair of legs. Its principal sclerites (exoskeletal plates) are the pronotum (dorsal), the prosternum (ventral), and the propleuron (lateral) on ea ...
resembles a saddle
The saddle is a supportive structure for a rider of an animal, fastened to an animal's back by a girth. The most common type is equestrian. However, specialized saddles have been created for oxen, camels and other animals. It is not kno ...
. The atrophied wings are unfit to flight. The base of tegmina
A tegmen (plural: ''tegmina'') designates the modified leathery front wing on an insect particularly in the orders Dermaptera (earwigs), Orthoptera (grasshoppers, crickets and similar families), Mantodea (praying mantis), Phasmatodea (stick an ...
is brownish or blackish, with a yellowish outer margin.
Bibliography
* Burr. 1907. Entomologist's Rec. J. Var. 19:299
* Dubrony (1878) Liste des Orthoptères recueillis jusqu'ici en Ligurie, Annali del Museo Civico di Storia Naturale 'Giacomo Doria', Genova (Ann. Mus. Civ. Stor. Nat. Genova) 12:5-23
* Rossius (1790), Fauna Etrusca 1
* Targioni-Tozzetti (1882), Ortotteri agrari cioè dei diversi insetti dell'ordine degli ortotteri nocivi o vantaggiosi all'agricoltura o all'economia domestica e principalmente delle cavallette, Annali di Agricoltura, Firenze, Bencini 238 pp., 68 figs.
*Massa, Fontana, Buzzetti, Kleukers & Odé. 2012. Fauna d'Italia. Orthoptera 48:295
References
External links
Grasshoppers of Europe
perforatus
Insects described in 1790
Orthoptera of Europe
{{tettigoniidae-stub