Miramella alpina

Miramella alpina, the 'Green Mountain Grasshopper', is a species of 'short-horned grasshoppers' belonging to the family Acrididae subfamily Melanoplinae.

Miramella alpina
Miramella alpina, male
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Orthoptera
Suborder: Caelifera
Family: Acrididae
Subfamily: Melanoplinae
Tribe: Podismini
Subtribe: Miramellina
Genus: Miramella
Species:
M. alpina
Binomial name
Miramella alpina
(Kollar, 1833)
Synonyms
  • Kisella alpina (Kollar, 1833)

Subspecies
  • Miramella alpina var. alpina (Kollar, 1833)
  • Miramella alpina var. subalpina (Fischer, 1850)
  • Miramella alpina var. albanica Mishchenko, L.L., 1952 - Galvagniella albanica Mishchenko, L.L., 1952
  • Miramella alpina var. collina (Brunner von Wattenwyl, 1864) - Miramella alpina var. alpina (Kollar, 1833)

Distribution

This common alpine grasshopper is present in Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain and Switzerland.[1]

Description
''Miramella alpina, mating pair

The adult males grow up to 16–23 millimetres (0.63–0.91 in) long, while the females reach 22–30 millimetres (0.87–1.18 in)of length. The basic coloration of the body is bright green in both sexes, with longitudinal black stripes at the sides of pronotum, extended to the abdomen in males. The light-brown wings usually are very reduced and unfit to flight (brachyptery). Femora of the hind legs are red on the bottom, while tibiae are yellowish in the females and black in males.

Biology and behavior

They can be encountered from late June through September, mainly in moist mountain meadows, wet clearings and open woods. They feed on grasses, lichens, mosses and various herbaceous plants, with a preference for Vaccinium species.

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References
Citations
  1. Fauna europaea
Bibliography
  • Galvagni A., 1986 - The situation of the genus Miramella Dovnar-Zapolskij, 1933, in the Balcanic and Carpathic regions (Insecta: Caelifera: Catantopidae). Studi Trentini di Scienze Naturali, Acta Biol. 62
  • Roman Asshoff and Stephan Hättenschwiler - Growth and reproduction of the alpine grasshopper Miramella alpina feeding on CO 2-enriched dwarf shrubs at treeline - Oecologia 142, Number 2, 191-201
  • Kral K., 2008 - Similarities and differences in the peering-jump behavior of three grasshopper species (Orthoptera, Caelifera). Insect Science 15, 369-374
  • Kral K., 2009 - Comparison of the use of active vision for depth perception in three grasshopper families (Orthoptera: Caelifera). Annals of the Entomological Society of America 102, 339-345
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