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| Insects of Britain and Ireland: the genera of Orthoptera |
Adults diurnal; 12–22 mm long (the females somewhat the lager in both species); dark greyish brown, with the abdomen bright red or orange beneath, and the hindlegs sometimes red or orange-tinged, in O. rufipes; usually green, sometimes olive brown, or dorsally green with purple or brown elswhere, the abdomen never marked with orange, in O. viridulus.
The antennae relatively short, with fewer than 30 segments; not thickened towards the tip. The pronotum not extended backwards over the abdomen. Forewings well developed; about equalling the abdomen (neither much longer nor much shorter) (somewhat longer to somewhat shorter). The costal margin of the forewing straight, the wing narrowing gradually with no basal dilation. Hindwings not pale blue. Foreleg tarsi 3 segmented; mid-leg tarsi 3 segmented; hindleg tarsi 3 segmented. The hind femora keeled. Hind tibiae not banded black and yellow. The ovipositor relatively short, and consisting of separate, prong-like valves articulated at the base; valves not toothed. 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. 2 species. Omocestus rufipes (Woodland Grasshopper), O. viridulus (Common Green Grasshopper). Native. Northern Scotland, southern Scotland, northern England, English Midlands, East Anglia, Wales, southeast England, central southern England, southwest England, Isle of Wight, and Ireland (O. viridulus), English Midlands, East Anglia, Wales, southeast England, central southern England, and southwest England (O. rufipes).
Vegetarian (feeding mainly on gasses); found outdoors in natural habitats (O. rufipes occurs in grassy woodland rides and clearings, also on downsland turf and lowland heaths, while O. viridulus prefers coarse grass in moist locations).
Classification. Suborder Caelifera; Superfamily Acridoidea; Acrididae.
Illustrations. • Omocestus (Lucas). 1 and 2, Omocestus viridulus (Common Green Grasshopper), male with wings spread (1) and female with wings closed; 3, Omocestus rufipes (Woodland Grasshopper), face showing characteristic white palpi. From Lucas (1920), with approximate insect lengths. • 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’.
