Petasida ephippigera

Illustration of the kind of Ludwig Leichhardt from 1847

Petasida ephippigera (English Leichhardt 's Grasshopper ) is a grasshopper from the family of cone-head horror ( Pyrgomorphidae ). It is the only species in the monotypic genus Petasida. Just like their sister genus Scutillya with their only representative Scutillya verrucosa ( Giant Spotted Pyrgomorpha ) it is native endemic to Australia.

For the first time the grasshopper was probably discovered in 1839 by Edward John Eyre at the Victoria River. After Ludwig Leichhardt came as the second White on his first expedition through Australia on 17 November 1845 in Arnhem Land on the South Alligator River in this way and described it in his travel diary. This description also includes a drawing of the animals.

Originally, the grasshopper was named Paradise Grasshopper and was provided later in honor of Leichhardt with its current name. After the discovery of Leichhardt in 1845, it took until 1973, 128 years to return to copies of Petasida ephippigera were found.

Features

Petasida ephippigera is defined by its vibrant colors. The animals are mostly orange with blue spots mainly in the area of the pronotum. The abdomen is spotted dark. Between the individual populations there are variations in coloring.

Male animals and 53 mm long, and are thinner than the females, which are also slightly larger to up to 60 mm. The antennas are about 20 mm long.

Older nymphs are similar to the adult animals colored, except for the exception that later stages have yet yellowish white spots that fade in the adult stage. Early nymphal stages show during the dry season a pale green to yellowish color, so that they are camouflaged in the vegetation.

Way of life

About April to the beginning of the dry season, the nymphs hatch from the eggs. You have stub wings and are about 5 mm in size. The young nymphs are likely to protect against predators, colored unobtrusive and grow to about August, only slowly. Then, when the temperature and humidity, and thus increase plant growth, the young grasshoppers grow faster and develop around September-October their bright colors. Around November the animals are fully grown and after a further two to three weeks they are able to mate. Already one or two stages of development before they can be found in small groups of a few animals together on appropriate food plants. The mating period lasts for several weeks and about in January / February, the females begin to lay their eggs in moist sand. After mating and laying eggs die the adult animals.

The animals are specialized to a few food plants. Mainly they feed on plants of the endemic genus Pityrodia from the mint family ( Lamiaceae), while a few species here are limited to a few. In addition, they are to be found partly on plants of the genus Dampiera from the family of Goodeniengewächse ( Goodeniaceae ), but much less frequently than on Pityrodia species. As in the case of dyeing, there is in the preferred food plants differences between the populations. It was originally assumed that the plants contain toxic compounds (especially alkaloids) and that the locusts to receive and use in their defense. In studies on this topic, however, only terpenes and flavonoids were detected, toxic alkaloids were not found. Maybe there are bitter-tasting substances that can be stored by the animals and thus serve as effective protection. Petasida ephippigera has no known predators among vertebrates. They show virtually no escape behavior and are not otherwise very mobile. Despite well developed wings and the ability to fly the locust high site fidelity and may spend their entire lives on the same plant.

The greatest danger for Petasida ephippigera are the bushfires regularly occurring. For one, their food plants burn very well, on the other hand show the locusts as previously mentioned, no escape behavior and fly more than short distances. The food plants recover but within a few weeks, but the time without food is too long for any surviving grasshoppers. Once stocks are lost, if at all, only very slowly colonized by new generations.

Dissemination

Petasida ephippigera occurs in northern Australia. The distribution area is limited to the Northern Territory and here again, especially on the area around the Kakadu National Park. Overall, currently about 30 breeding areas of locusts are known.

Mythology

In the mythology of the Aborigines have the locust than the children of Lightning Man ( Namarrgon ) and his wife Barrinj their place. The tribes in the western Arnhem Land call the grasshopper Alyurr that come out every year at the beginning of the rainy season, to look after her father.