British Insects: the Genera of Orthoptera
| British Insects: the Genera of Orthoptera | |
#1. <Synonyms:>/
#2. Adults <nocturnal or diurnal>/
1. nocturnal/
2. diurnal/
#3. Adults <length, vertex of the head to tip of the abdomen or of the folded wings, whichever is the longer (abdominal appendages excluded)>/
mm long/
Data summarised from Marshall and Haes (1990). The ranges given here are inclusive for the species, with significant differences between the sexes commented upn where they exist.
#4. <Mature> adults <whether green; for keys only>/
1. predominantly green/
2. only partly green/
3. without green colouration <implicit>/
#5. <Mature> adults <presence of orange colouration; for keys only>/
1. with orange colouration on the abdomen/
2. with orange colouration on the hindlegs/
3. without orange colouration <implicit>/
#6. <General colouring of mature adults:>/
#7. The body and legs <of adults, whether scaly>/
1. covered with minute scales/
2. not covered with minute scales <implicit>/
#8. Adults <winged or apterous>/
1. fully apterous/
2. winged <with detectable fore- and/or hindwings, regardless of the capacity for flight: implicit>/
The widely employed terms brachypterous (“having short wings”) and macropterous (“having fully developed or long wings”) have been avoided here, because their precise meanings and applications never seem to be adequately set out; for example, it is unclear whether they refer to forewings alone, or to both forewings and hindwings.
#9. The antennae <of adults, relative length and number of segments>/
1. long, with well over 30 segments/
2. relatively short, with fewer than 30 segments/
#10. The antennae <whether apically thickened>/
1. thickened towards the tip/
2. not thickened towards the tip <implicit>/
#11. The antennal tips <whether white>/
1. white/
2. not white/
#12. The pronotum <whether extended back over the abdomen>/
1. conspicuously extended backwards over the abdomen/
2. not extended backwards over the abdomen <implicit>/
#13. The pronotum <whether keeled>/
1. with a median dorsal keel/
2. not dorsally keeled/
#14. Forewings <or ‘elytra’ of adults, whether fully developed>/
1. well developed/
2. much reduced in size <including vestigial>/
3. absent/
The widely employed terms brachypterous (“having short wings”) and macropterous (“having fully developed or long wings”) have been avoided here, because their precise meanings and applications never seem to be adequately set out. For example, it is unclear whether they refer to forewings alone, or to both forewings and hindwings.
#15. Forewings <when folded, length relative to that of the abdomen (excluding terminal appendages)>/
1. greatly exceeding the abdomen when folded/
2. about equalling the abdomen <neither much longer nor much shorter>/
3. much shorter than the abdomen/
The widely employed terms brachypterous (“having short wings”) and macropterous (“having fully developed or long wings”) have been avoided here, because their precise meanings and applications never seem to be adequately set out; for example, it is unclear whether they refer to forewings alone, or to both forewings and hindwings.
#16. The costal margin of the forewing <whether exhibiting a bulge>/
1. dilated near the base, the wing abruptly narrowing beyond it/
2. straight, the wing narrowing gradually with no basal dilation/
#17. Hindwings <of adults, degree of development>/
1. fully developed <functional for flight>/
2. reduced or vestigial <the insects flightless>/
3. absent <the insects flightless>/
The widely employed terms brachypterous (“having short wings”) and macropterous (“having fully developed or long wings”) have been avoided here, because their precise meanings and applications never seem to be adequately set out; for example, it is unclear whether they refer to forewings alone, or to both forewings and hindwings.
It is assumed that ”fully developed” hindwings indicate the capability of flight.
#18. Hindwings <whether blue>/
1. pale blue with a black band/
2. not pale blue <implicit>/
#19. Forelegs <of adults, whether fossorial>/
1. conspicuously modified for digging <fossorial>/
2. conventional <not modified for digging>/
#20. Foreleg tarsi <number of segments>/
segmented/
#21. Mid-leg tarsi <number of segments>/
segmented/
#22. Hindleg tarsi <number of segments>/
segmented/
#23. The hind femora <whether keeled>/
1. keeled/
2. smooth <keel-less>/
#24. Hind tibiae <whether banded black and yellow>/
1. banded black and yellow <Stethophymus>/
2. not banded black and yellow <Stenobothrus>/
#25. Females <presence of ovipositor>/
1. with a functional ovipositor <implicit>/
2. without a functional ovipositor <this vestigial>/
#26. The ovipositor <females only: structure>/
1. relatively long, with the valves articulated along their length and forming a single <ensiform or stilettiform> structure/
2. relatively short, and consisting of <usually 4> separate, prong-like valves articulated at the base <only>/
#27. The ovipositor <length>/
mm long/
#28. The ovipositor valves <whether toothed>/
1. toothed/
2. not toothed/
#29. The males <whether stridulous or drumming>/
1. stridulous <or drumming>/
2. mute/
‘Stridulous’, in order to encompass the unusual situation where sound production involves a process other than true stridulation; cf. the accompanying qualifying character.
#30. The sound production <of the males, method. See Notes>/
1. alary <involving scraping the forewings together, the latter being structurally modified to this end>/
2. femoro-alary <involving rubbing the rough insides of the hind femora against prominent veins in the forewings>/
3. involving drumming a hindleg against the supporting surface/
4. involving flicking a hindleg against the wing-tips/
Stridulous male Ensifera typically generate sound by rubbing the forewings over each other. In Tettigoniidae, the base of both forewings is modified, so that a tooth-bearing rib beneath the left can be rubbed against the hind edge of the right, and the latter is equipped with a smooth ‘mirror’ which serves to amplify the sound. Here, the left forewing is always borne on top of the right. In Gryllidae, the position of the forewings is reversed, and the modifications are less obvious.
Stridulous male Caeliferae, by contrast, sing by rubbing a row of pegs on the insides of the hind femora against prominent veins of the flexed forewings, and the latter sometimes exhibit an expanded region which amplifies the sound.
#31. Auditory organs <of males and females, presence in the abdomen or fore-tibiae>/
1. located in the first abdominal segment <sometimes concealed by the folded wings or the hind-legs, and the tympanal cavity sometimes partially covered by a flap>/
2. located in the fore-tibiae <sometimes partly covered by a ventral flap>/
3. absent/
#32. The male cerci <whether toothed>/
1. with an inner tooth near the middle/
2. without an inner tooth/
species/
#34. <British species, with common names:>/
#35. <Status in Britain:>/
1. native/
2. established alien/
3. occasional migrant/
4. occasional casual introduction/
#36. <General distribution in Britain:>/
1. northern Scotland/
2. southern Scotland/
3. northern England/
4. English Midlands/
5. East Anglia/
6. Wales/
7. southeast England/
8. central southern England/
9. southwest England/
10. Isle of Wight/
11. Ireland/
12. Channel Islands/
Known distributions of organisms are obviously taxonomically useful, but equally obviously, they have to be used with caution. The very detailed data provided by Marshall and Haes (1990) have therefore been geographically generalized here, mainly to render them practicable and reasonably reliable for helping with identifications. The distributions have automatically been widened, by recording them quite liberally under the broad regions used here; and the routine advice we advocate when using INTKEY (if in doubt, select more than one character state) remains available to users as a further precaution.
Southern Scotland: south of the Firth of Forth.
Northern England: including north Derbyshire, Cheshire, Lancashire, Yorkshire, north Lincolnshire.
English Midlands: central England, including Warwickshire, Northamptonshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire, southern Lincolnshire, Derbyshire, Staffordshire, Worcestershire, Shropshire, Herefordshire, etc.
East Anglia: eastern England south of The Wash, including Norfolk, parts of Cambridgeshire and Essex.
Southeast England: including London and the Home Counties, Kent, East Sussex.
Central southern England: including Oxfordshire, Gloucestershire, Buckinghamshire, Hampshire, east Dorsetshire, Wiltshire.
Southwest England: west Dorset, Somerset, Devonshire, Cornwall.
#37. <Diet>/
1. vegetarian/
2. omnivorous but principally vegetarian/
3. omnivorous/
4. omnivorous but principally carnivorous/
5. carnivorous/
6. feeding mainly on decaying vegetation and associated fungi/
#38. <Habitats in Britain>/
1. found outdoors in natural habitats/
2. encountered in and around docks and warehouses/
3. in human habitations/
4. in hothouses/
1. Ensifera <crickets and long-horned grasshoppers>/
2. Caelifera <short-horned grasshoppers and locusts>/
#40. Superfamily <of Ensifera>/
1. Gryllacridoidea <cave crickets, king crickets>/
2. Tettigonioidea <long-horned grasshoppers>/
3. Grylloidea <true crickets, tree crickets, mole crickets>/
#41. Superfamily <of Caelifera>/
1. Tetrigoidea <short-horned grasshoppers, grouse-locusts>/
2. Acridoidea <short-horned grasshoppers, locusts>/
#42. <Family of Gryllacridoidea>/
1. Raphidophoridae <~Stenopelmatidae>/
#43. <Family of Tettigonioidea:>/
1. Meconemetidae <~ Tettigoniidae-Tettigoniinae>/
2. Tettigoniidae/
3. Conocephalidae/
4. Phaneropteridae/
#44. <Family of Grylloidea:>/
1. Gryllidae <including Mogoplistidae>/
2. Gryllotalpidae/
#45. <Family of Tetrigoidea:>/
1. Tetrigidae/
#46. <Family of Acridoidea:>/
1. Acrididae/
#48. <Abbreviated taxon name:>/
#49. <Illustrations:>/
To view illustrations with detailed captions, go to the interactive key. This also offers full and partial descriptions, diagnostic descriptions, differences and similarities between taxa, lists of taxa exhibiting or lacking specified attributes, and distributions of character states within any set of taxa.
Cite this publication as: ‘Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M.J. 2003 onwards. British insects: the genera of Orthoptera. Version: 9th April 2007. http://delta-intkey.com’.