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| Insects of Britain and Ireland: the genera of Orthoptera |
Excluding Chorthippus
Adults diurnal; 10–15 mm long (S. stigmaticus), or 15–23 mm long (S. lineatus; the females somewhat the larger in both species); usually green, sometimes with brownish forewings and brown marks elsewhere, but females sometimes pinkish or purplish; usually with a white line on the front edges of the forewings; males often developing orange colouration of the abdomen and hind tibiae.
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). The costal margin of the forewing straight, the wing narrowing gradually with no basal dilation. Hindwings fully developed and functional for flight; 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 armed on the outer side with a strong tooth orientated in the same direction as their points. 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. Stenobothrus lineatus (Stripe-winged Grasshopper), S. stigmaticus (Lesser Mottled Grasshopper). Native. Southeast England, central southern England, southwest England, and Isle of Wight (S. lineatus), English Midlands (Isle of Man only, S. stigmaticus).
Vegetarian (feeding mainly on gasses); found outdoors in natural habitats (on thin turf).
Classification. Suborder Caelifera; Superfamily Acridoidea; Acrididae.
Comments. Foveolae of the vertex distinct, oblong.
Illustrations. • Chorthippus and Stenobothrus (Lucas). 7, Chorthippus parallelus (Meadow Grasshopper, male); 8, Stenobothrus lineatus (Stripe-winged Grasshopper, male); 9, Chorthippus albomarginatus (Lesser Marsh Grasshopper, male). 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’.
