Acrida ungarica is a species of grasshopper found in southern and central Europe. It is commonly known as the (common) cone-headed grasshopper, nosed grasshopper, and Mediterranean slant-faced grasshopper.
Similar species: Grasshoppers And Crickets
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Uploaded Feb 3, 2013. Captured Aug 21, 2012 15:52 in Highway "Hemus", 9144 Slanchevo, Bulgaria.
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Acrida ungarica is a species of Grasshopper distributed in Europe.
Size: male 25-40 mm, female 41-73 mm.
Two subspecies are distinguished:
- subspecies mediterranea Dirsh, 1949
- subspecies ungarica (Herbst, 1786) / synonym cypria Dirsh, 1949
http://www.kreta-umweltforum.de/Merkblaetter_en/324-10E.pdf
http://orthoptera.speciesfile.org/Common/basic/Taxa.aspx?TaxonNameID=1111414
http://zipcodezoo.com/Animals/A/Acrida_ungarica/Default.asp
Pellissier et al. 2011, Adaptive colour polymorphism of Acrida ungarica H. (Orthoptera: Acrididae) in a spatially heterogeneous environment.
Intra-specific colour polymorphism provides a cryptic camouflage from predators in heterogeneous habitats. The orthoptera species, Acrida ungarica (Herbst, 1786) possess two well-distinguished colour morphs: brown and green and displays several disruptive colouration patterns within each morph to improve the crypsis. This study focused on how the features of the background environment relate to the proportion of the two morphs and to the intensity of disruptive colouration patterns in A. ungarica. As the two sexes are very distinct with respect to mass and length, we also distinctively tested the relationship for each sex. In accordance with the background matching hypothesis, we found that, for both sexes, the brown morph was in higher proportion at sites with a brown-dominant environment, and green morphs were in higher proportion in green-dominant environments. Globally, individuals in drier sites and in the drier year also had more intense disruptive colouration patterns, and brown morphs and females were also more striped. Colour patterns differed largely between populations and were significantly correlated with relevant environmental features. Even if A. ungarica is a polymorphic specialist, disruptive colouration still appears to provide strong benefits, particularly in some habitats. Moreover, because females are larger, they are less able to flee, which might explain the difference between sexes.
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1146609X10001517 Posted 12 years ago, modified 11 years ago