Anacridium aegyptium
Encyclopedia
Anacridium aegyptium, the 'Egyptian Locust', is a species belonging to the family Acrididae
Acrididae
The Acrididae are the predominant family of grasshoppers, comprising some 10,000 of the 11,000 species of the entire suborder Caelifera. The Acrididae are best known because all locusts are of the Acrididae. The subfamily Oedipodinae is sometimes classified as a distinct family Oedipodidae in the...

 subfamily Cyrtacanthacridinae.

It is present in most of Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...

, in the 'Afro-tropical ecozone', in eastern Palearctic ecozone, in the Near East
Near East
The Near East is a geographical term that covers different countries for geographers, archeologists, and historians, on the one hand, and for political scientists, economists, and journalists, on the other...

 and in North Africa
North Africa
North Africa or Northern Africa is the northernmost region of the African continent, linked by the Sahara to Sub-Saharan Africa. Geopolitically, the United Nations definition of Northern Africa includes eight countries or territories; Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, South Sudan, Sudan, Tunisia, and...

.

It is one of the largest European grasshoppers. The adult males grow up to 30–55 mm (1.2–2.2 ) long, while females reach 65–70 mm (2.6–2.8 ) of length.

Their body is usually gray, brown or olive coloured, the antennae are relatively short and robust. Tibiae of the hind legs are blue, while femora are orange. The hind femora have characteristic dark marks. It is easily identifiable also by the characteristic eyes with vertical black and white stripes. The pronotum shows a dorsal orange stripe and several white small spots. The wings are clear with dark marks.

This species is folivore
Folivore
In zoology, a folivore is a herbivore that specializes in eating leaves. Mature leaves contain a high proportion of hard-to-digest cellulose, less energy than other types of foods, and often toxic compounds. For this reason folivorous animals tend to have long digestive tracts and slow metabolisms....

, essentially feeding on leaves. It is a solitary species, not harmful to crops. Adults can mainly be encountered in August and September in warm and dry habitats.

After mating these grasshoppers overwinter as adults. Spawning occurs in spring just under the soil surface and the nymphs appear in April. The nymphs have the appearance of the adults, their color varies from yellow to bright green and ocher and the wings are absent or small, as they are gradually developed after each molting.

Subspecies

  • Anacridium aegyptium var. rubrispinum Bei-Bienko, 1948 - Anacridium rubrispinum Bei-Bienko, 1948

Synonyms

  • Acridium aegyptiums (Linnaeus, 1758)
  • Acridium albidiferum (Walker, F., 1870)
  • Acridium indecisum (Walker, F., 1870)
  • Acridium lineola
  • Acridium indecisum (Walker, F., 1870)
  • Flamiruizia stuardoi Liebermann, 1943
  • Gryllus aegyptium Linnaeus, 1764
  • Gryllus lineola Fabricius, 1781
  • Gryllus nubecula Thunberg, 1815
  • Orthacanthacris aegyptia (Linnaeus, 1764)

External links

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