''Pseudoprumna '' 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 of

grasshopper Grasshoppers are a group of insects belonging to the suborder Caelifera. They are amongst what are possibly the most ancient living groups of chewing herbivorous insects, dating back to the early Triassic around 250 million years ago. Grassh ...

s in the subfamily

Melanoplinae The Melanoplinae are a subfamily of grasshoppers in the family Acrididae. They are distributed across the Holarctic and Neotropical realms. They are one of the two largest subfamilies in the Acrididae. As of 2001 the Melanoplinae contained over 8 ...

and tribe

Podismini Podismini is a tribe of "spur-throated grasshoppers" in the family Acrididae. This tribe is unlike others in the subfamily Melanoplinae in that genera are found throughout the northern hemisphere, with a substantial number occurring outside the A ...

. The only species is ''Pseudoprumna baldensis''.

Description

''Pseudoprumna baldensis'' is a stockily built, light green

. A dark band runs from the eye over the

tympanal organ A tympanal organ (or tympanic organ) is a hearing organ in insects, consisting of a tympanal membrane ( tympanum) stretched across a frame backed by an air sac and associated sensory neurons. Sounds vibrate the membrane, and the vibrations are s ...

to the end of the

abdomen The abdomen (colloquially called the gut, belly, tummy, midriff, tucky, or stomach) is the front part of the torso between the thorax (chest) and pelvis in humans and in other vertebrates. The area occupied by the abdomen is called the abdominal ...

. The band is often reduced to a number of spots. Legs and hearing organ are mainly murky reddish grey. Males reach a body length of ; females . Wings do not exist. The hearing organ is well developed.

Distribution and mode of life

This species is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to the Italian Alps. It is only known from the eastern slope of the

Monte Baldo Monte Baldo () is a mountain range in the Italian Alps, located in the provinces of Trento and Verona. Its ridge is orientated in a northeast-southwest direction and it is bounded to the south by the highland ending at Caprino Veronese, to the ...

in altitudes of and from three mountain groups west of

Lake Garda Lake Garda (, , or , ; ; ) is the largest lake in Italy. It is a popular holiday location in northern Italy, between Brescia and Milan to the west, and Verona and Venice to the east. The lake cuts into the edge of the Eastern Alps, Italian Alp ...

. The latter occurrences were first discovered in 1992 by Adolf Nadig. The habitat consists of

alpine meadow Alpine tundra is a type of natural region or biome that does not contain trees because it is at high elevation, with an associated harsh climate. As the latitude of a location approaches the poles, the threshold elevation for alpine tundra gets ...

s where this species is found on

dwarf shrub A subshrub (Latin ''suffrutex'') or undershrub is either a small shrub (e.g. prostrate shrubs) or a perennial that is largely herbaceous but slightly woody at the base (e.g. garden pink and florist's chrysanthemum). The term is often interch ...

s and in grass often in high density. Adults can be found in August and September.

References

* {{Taxonbar, from1=Q14192770, from2=Q1728336 Melanoplinae Caelifera genera Endemic fauna of Italy Orthoptera of Europe Monotypic Orthoptera genera