SLENDER GROUNDHOPPER |
TETRIX SUBULATA |
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| Fig 1 |
DESCRIPTION: Up to 14mm in length. A small grasshopper-like insect with a wide pronotum and a narrow tapering abdomen. Colours are subdued and usually a mixture of mottled browns and greys with various black and white markings, but all these are quite variable. The outer edge of the anterior parts of the thorax is often edged off-white. Females have a long pale stripe running along the top of their bodies. Wings exceed the tip of the pronotum. BEHAVIOUR: Feeds on lichen and mosses. Eggs are laid in the ground or in short vegetation. Both sexes can fly and swim. Overwinters as a nymph. DISTRIBUTION: Local throughout but more common in southern Britain. HABITAT: Short vegetated areas that are damp as well as bare muddy places. PERIOD: Adults mainly summer months up to August.
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