Gomphocerus sibiricus (Linnaeus, 1767)

Tishechkin, Dmitri Yu., 2017, Contributions to the study of gomphocerine grasshoppers calling songs (Orthoptera: Acrididae: Gomphocerinae) with notes on taxonomic status and distribution of some forms from Kyrgyzstan, Zootaxa 4318 (3), pp. 531-547 : 535-537

4. Gomphocerus sibiricus (Linnaeus, 1767)

Figs. 13–30

Distribution. The main part of the range includes Scandinavia, Northern half of European Russia, Siberia, northern part of the Russian Far East, and steppes of Mongolia and North China. Isolated parts of the range occur in the mountains of Western Europe, the Caucasus, Central Asia, and Tibet. Separate subspecies are described from the mountains of Iberian Peninsula (including the Pyrenees) and the Alps, from Asia Minor, the North Caucasus, Transcaucasia, from the mountains of Central Asia, and from Tibet (Bey-Bienko & Mistshenko, 1951). The range of G. sibiricus turkestanicus includes mountains of Southeastern Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and Xinjiang ( China).

Localities. 5. The Central Tien Shan Mts., the Kekemeren River Gorge 8–9 km downstream from Kozhomkul Village , mountain steppes on the left bank, 27. VI. 2014. Signals of 1 ♂ recorded on disk at 36o C ( Figs. 13–14, 16, 20 , and 24).

Irkutsk Oblast, 16–17 km North of Nizhneudinsk, the bank of the Uda River near the Uk River mouth, 1. VII. 2003 (not shown on the map). Signals of 1 ♂ recorded on tape at 35o C ( Figs. 18, 22 , and 26).

Buryatia, 10 km East of Onokhoy (about 60 km East of Ulan-Ude), the valley of the Bryanka River , 1. VII. 2006 (not shown on the map). Signals of 1 ♂ recorded on tape at 36o C ( Figs. 15, 17, 21 , and 25).

Southeast of Chita Oblast , the valley of the Onon River 5–6 km West of Nizhniy Tsasuchey Village, 18–19. VI. 1995 (not shown on the map). Signals of 2 ♂ recorded on tape at 31–32o C ( Figs. 19, 23 , and 27).

References to song. Ragge & Reynolds (1998): recordings from Western Europe ; Bukhvalova & Vedenina (1998): recordings from Eastern Siberia ( Chita Oblast ) ; Tishechkin & Bukhvalova (2009b): recordings from Eastern Siberia (Buryatia).

Song. The main part of the calling song is an echeme lasting 20–30 s. The song begins quietly and reaches maximum intensity at about one third or a half of its duration ( Figs. 13–15 ). A syllable repetition period averages 160–260 ms at 31–36 o C, the first two thirds or one half of a syllable usually includes 4–6 gaps ( Figs. 16–19 and 24–27 ). At the end of an echeme, syllables of lower intensity repeated at a lower rate can follow ( Figs. 20–23 ). Duration of this part and the shape of syllables vary greatly; sometimes it is almost reduced and includes only several low-amplitude syllables ( Fig. 13 ).

Comparative notes. Despite the fact that the mountains of Central Asia represent an isolated part of the range of G. sibiricus , the songs of the male from the Central Tien Shan Mts. do not differ from these of males from different localities in Siberia. The photographs of head, pronotum and antennae of the male from the Central Tien Shan Mts., which signals were studied are given on Figs. 28–30.

Figures

FIGURES 13 – 27. Oscillograms of male calling songs of Gomphocerus sibiricus (L.). 13 – 14, 16, 20, and 24 ― male from the Central Tien Shan Mts., 15, 17, 21, and 25 ― male from Buryatia, 18, 22, and 26 ― male from Irkutsk Oblast, 19, 23, and 27 ― male from Chita Oblast. 13 – 15 ― general view of a song, 16 – 19 ― main part of a song, 20 – 23 ― end part of a song, 24 – 27 ― main part of a song at higher speed. For males from Irkutsk Oblast and Chita Oblast only parts of songs are presented. Faster oscillograms of the parts of songs indicated as “ 14 ”, “ 16 – 17 ”, “ 20 – 21 ”, and “ 24 – 27 ” are given under the same numbers.

FIGURES 28 – 30. Gomphocerus sibiricus (L.), male from the Central Tien Shan Mts., which songs are given on oscillograms on Figs. 13 – 14, 16, 20, and 24. 28 ― head and pronotum, 29 ― left antenna, 30 ― right antenna.