David Element's Wildlife Web Page Orthopteroids 1

David Element

Wildlife Photography

and Digital Video Images

________________________Orthopteroids 1

BLUE-WINGED GRASSHOPPER Oedipoda caerulescens

WOODLAND GRASSHOPPER Omocestus rufipes (m)

STRIPE-WINGED GRASSHOPPER Stenobothrus lineatus (f)

GREY BUSH CRICKET Platycleis albopunctata (m)

SPECKLED BUSH CRICKET Leptophyes punctatissima (f)

A random selection of British and northern European orthopteroids (grasshoppers and allied insects) is shown here. The Blue-winged Grasshopper and Grey Bush Cricket were photographed in the Loire Valley, France and the Woodland Grasshopper in northern Spain. There is a colony of Blue-winged Grasshoppers on Jersey, but this species is absent from mainland Britain. In the UK the Grey Bush Cricket is restricted to the South coast and a few isolated colonies in West Wales.

RECOMMENDED REFERENCES:

'GRASSHOPPERS AND ALLIED INSECTS OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND', JUDITH A. MARSHALL AND E.C.M. HAES, HARLEY BOOKS, 1988. ISBN 0 946589 13 5

'GRASSHOPPERS AND CRICKETS OF SURREY', DAVID W. BALDOCK, SURREY WILDLIFE TRUST, 1998. ISBN 0 9526065 4 2 - see: http://www.surreywildlifetrust.co.uk/ for further information about the Surrey Wildlife Atlas series. This comprehensively illustrated book contains reproductions of the song diagrams (for Surrey species, i.e. the substantial majority of the British fauna) originally published in 'GRASSHOPPERS, CRICKETS AND COCKROACHES OF THE BRITISH ISLES' by David Ragge. This book is unfortunately out of print, but for those with an interest in identification by sound there are tape cassettes and CDs available - *see below. The use of bat detectors for the identification of orthopterans is detailed in this book. It is likely that many observers will need them as the ability to hear high frequency sounds tends to deteriorate by the time that the necessary identification skills have been developed!

'A FIELD GUIDE TO THE GRASSHOPPERS AND CRICKETS OF BRITAIN AND NORTHERN EUROPE', HEIKO BELLMAN, COLLINS, 1988 ISBN 0 00-219852-5

'BRITISH WILDLIFE', BRITISH WILDLIFE PUBLISHING, ISSN 0958-0956 CONTAINS REGULAR ORTHOPTERA REPORTS BY DR. PETER SUTTON - SEE BELOW

* FOR SOUND IDENTIFICATION:

'A Sound Guide to the Grasshoppers and Allied Insects of Great Britain and Ireland' by J.F.Burton and D.R.Ragge is a tape containing the songs of 26 species

'A Sound Guide to the Grasshoppers and Crickets of Western Europe' by D.R.Ragge and W.J.Reynolds is a twin set of CDs containing the songs of 170 European species (including all of the British examples)

The Environmental Records Centre for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly website has very informative pages which contain sound recordings ands sonograms for the grasshoppers and bush crickets found in that area: http://www.erccis.co.uk/species/cricketcalls.htm http://www.erccis.co.uk/species/grasshoppercalls.htm

ORTHOPTERA RECORDS:

Dr. Peter Sutton is the National Orthoptera Recorder. He may be contacted at: petersutton@freeuk.com. The Orthoptera Recording Scheme Newsletter may be downloaded from the Biological Records Centre Website: http://www.brc.ac.uk/brcNewsletterResults.asp?news_id=24

RECOMMENDED WEBSITE:

Dr. Paul Veenvliet's Dutch and Slovenian wildlife website at: http://www.zavod-symbiosis.si/illustrations/index.htm shows illustrations of European species.

http://www.tettigonia.com/ is an enormously elaborate scientific database and a very valuable resource for researching orthopteran taxonomy. Photographs of huge numbers of set specimens are available for on-line reference. Unfortunately the colours of these insects fade after death, so full identification will require close examination of the morphology.