''Psophus'' is a

monotypic In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unisp ...

genus Genus (; : genera ) is a taxonomic rank above species and below family (taxonomy), family as used in the biological classification of extant taxon, living and fossil organisms as well as Virus classification#ICTV classification, viruses. In bino ...

of grasshopper of the

family Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...

Acrididae 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 (swarming grasshoppers) are of the Acrididae. The subfamily Oedi ...

, subfamily Oedipodinae and in the tribe Locustini. The one species in the genus is ''Psophus stridulus'', commonly known as the rattle grasshopper.

Description

''Psophus stridulus'' can reach a length of in the males, of in the females. The basic colouration of the body varies from brown to grey–ochre or black, with lighter spots. The

pronotum The prothorax is the foremost of the three segments in the thorax of an insect, and bears the first pair of legs. Its principal sclerites (exoskeletal plates) are the pronotum (dorsal), the prosternum (ventral), and the propleuron (lateral) on e ...

is strongly convex. These grasshoppers are winged, but wings are short and unfit for flight in females, fully developed in males. The hindwings are bright red-orange, with a black apex. The adults occur from July or August up to October.

Subspecies

* ''Psophus stridulus samniticus'' Baccetti, 1958 * ''Psophus stridulus stridulus'' (Linnaeus, 1758)

Distribution

This species can be found in Central and Southern Europe, in the eastern

Palearctic realm The Palearctic or Palaearctic is a biogeographic realm of the Earth, the largest of eight. Confined almost entirely to the Eastern Hemisphere, it stretches across Europe and Asia, north of the foothills of the Himalayas, and North Africa. The ...

(Siberia, Russian Far East, Middle Asia, China, Mongolia, Eastern Asia), and in the Near East.

Habitat

This species lives mainly in arid and rocky open areas, mostly in mountainous regions, at an elevation up to above sea level. It is known as a

xeric Deserts and xeric shrublands are a biome defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature. Deserts and xeric (Ancient Greek 'dry') shrublands form the largest terrestrial biome, covering 19% of Earth's land surface area. Ecoregions in this habita ...

specialist because of this, and often interacts with other species like ''

Zygaena ephialtes ''Zygaena ephialtes'' is day-flying species of Zygaenidae, burnet moth found in Europe. It is typically found in xeric habitats, and populations have recently decreased. It also exhibits Müllerian mimicry with other species, like ''Nine-spotted ...

'' in these environments.

References

External links

Biolib

Global Species
* * {{Taxonbar, from1=Q7256111, from2=Q1969488 Acrididae genera Oedipodinae Taxa named by Franz Xaver Fieber Monotypic Orthoptera genera