''Oecanthus pellucens'', common name Italian tree cricket, is a species of tree crickets belonging to 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 ...

, subfamily

Oecanthinae Tree crickets are insects of the order Orthoptera. These crickets are in the subfamily Oecanthinae of the family Gryllidae. Description Tree crickets as well as most other crickets have two pairs of wings. The fore wings are located closer t ...

Subspecies

Subspecies include: * ''Oecanthus pellucens calinensis'' Jannone, 1936 * ''Oecanthus pellucens pellucens'' (Scopoli, 1763)

Distribution

This species is present in most of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

, especially in the countries around the Mediterranean with a focus on Southern Europe. The northern boundary runs through northern France, Belgium, southern Germany, the Czech Republic and southern Poland. The first, apparently viable, British colony was discovered near

Dungeness Dungeness () is a headland on the coast of Kent, England, formed largely of a shingle beach in the form of a cuspate foreland. It shelters a large area of low-lying land, Romney Marsh. Dungeness spans Dungeness Nuclear Power Station, the hamlet ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

in 2015. In southern Europe there is also the closely related and very similar species ''Oecanthus dulcisonans''. It is also present in the eastern

Palearctic realm The Palearctic or Palaearctic is the largest of the eight biogeographic realms of the Earth. It stretches across all of Eurasia north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. The realm consists of several bioregions: the Euro-Sib ...

, in the Near East, and in

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 ...

Habitat

The typical habitat of ''Oecanthus pellucens'' are sunny meadows with high vegetation and dry warm and nutrient-poor areas such as grasslands, sand dunes and brownfield lands.

Description

The adult males grow up to long, the female is slightly larger than the male, about long. The colouration of ''Oecanthus pellucens'' is yellowish-brown, straw-colored. The body is very elongated and slender. The wings usually protrude out slightly above the abdomen, but can be shorter or longer. The wings of the males are larger than those of females. The antennae are longer than the body. The ovipositor of the female is long and slightly curved. The females are recognizable by the club-shaped end of the ovipositor.

Biology

Adults can be encountered from July through October. These crickets are mainly nocturnal. The males rub their wings together (stridulation) to produce a subtle but constant, fluctuating in volume sound. They sing from about five o'clock until three o'clock in the morning. After mating, the female lays her eggs in plant stems, especially in grape (''

Vitis vinifera ''Vitis vinifera'', the common grape vine, is a species of flowering plant, native to the Mediterranean region, Central Europe, and southwestern Asia, from Morocco and Portugal north to southern Germany and east to northern Iran. There are curr ...

''). In June the nymphs live in the tissue and leaves of the plant. A few days after the last molt the male begins to sing. These crickets are omnivorous and usually feed on leaves or delicate flower parts such as pollen and petals, but also on animal foods such as aphids, spiders and insect larvae.

Gallery

File: Oecanthidae - Oecanthus pellucens-01.JPG, Male of ''Oecanthus pellucens'' File:Oecanthus pellucens2.jpg, Male of ''Oecanthus pellucens'' File:Mombach fg32.jpg, Short-winged female of ''Oecanthus pellucens'' File:Mombach fg33.jpg, Short-winged female of ''Oecanthus pellucens''

References

External links

Hlasek

Encyclopedia of Life
{{Taxonbar, from=Q455302 pellucens Orthoptera of Europe Insects described in 1763 Taxa named by Giovanni Antonio Scopoli