| | Insects of Britain and Ireland: the genera of Orthoptera |
Gomphocerus auctt., nec Thunberg
Adults 14–22 mm long (the females somewhat the larger); predominantly brown, occasionally reddish-purple in females, the hind tibiae of both sexes and the abdomen of males becoming orange.
The antennae relatively short, with fewer than 30 segments; thickened towards the tip (strongly clubbed). The antennal tips white. Forewings well developed; about equalling the abdomen (neither much longer nor much shorter). The costal margin of the forewing straight, the wing narrowing gradually with no basal dilation. Hindwings fully developed and functional for flight. Foreleg tarsi 3 segmented; mid-leg tarsi 3 segmented; hindleg tarsi 3 segmented. The hind femora keeled. The ovipositor relatively short, and consisting of separate, prong-like valves articulated at the base. The males stridulous. The sound production of the males femoro-alary, involving rubbing the rough insides of the hind femora against prominent veins in the forewings. Auditory organs 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).
British representation. 1 species. Gomphocerippys rufus (Rufous Grasshopper). Native. Wales, southeast England, central southern England, and southwest England.
Vegetarian; found outdoors in natural habitats (restricted to warm, rough grassland, mainly on calcareous soils).
Classification. Suborder Caelifera; Superfamily Acridoidea; Acrididae.
Comments. Foveolae of the vertex distinct, oblong.
Illustrations. • Gomphocerippus rufus (Rufous Grasshopper):
Stephens VI, 1835. • Acrididae
and Tetrigidae: Burr. 1, Stethophyma grossum; 2a-2d, dissections of
Stenobothrus lineatus; 3, Omocestus viridulus, details of elytron (3a),
ovipositor (3b), and pronorum (3c); 4, Omocestus rufipes, details of elytron
(4a) and pronotum (4b); 5, Chorthippus brunneus, details of female elytron (5a)
and pronorum (5b); 6, Chorthippus albomarginatus, detail of pronotum; 7a and 7b,
Chorthippus parallelus male and female, with detail of pronotum (7c); 8,
inflated fore tibia of "Gomphocerus sibiricus" (a mainland-European montane
species); 9 and 9a, female elytron and antenna of GOMPHOCERIPPUS
RUFUS; 10, elytron of Myrmeleotettix maculatus; 11, Tetrix undulata; 12,
Tetrix subulata. Illustrations by S.L. Mosley, from Burr (1897).
We advise against extracting comparative information from the descriptions. This is much more easily achieved using the DELTA data files or the interactive key, which allows access to the character list, illustrations, 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. See also Guidelines for using data taken from Web publications.
Cite this publication as: ‘Watson, L., and Dallwitz, M.J. 2003 onwards. Insects of Britain and Ireland: the genera of Orthoptera. Version: 14th April 2022. delta-intkey.com’.
