Identification of European Orthoptera (1 Viewer)

[Steve Babbs]

I've started this thread because I had not idea what was available to help when I started identifying Orthoptera in Europe so others may be in the same situation.

The first one I used was A Field Guide to Grasshoppers and Crickets of Northern Europe Heiko Bellman. This has the advantage of being in English but some of the photos are reproduced poorly.

Much more useful, but in French, and cowritten by the same author, with Gerard Luquet, is Le guide des sauterelles, grillons et criquets d'Europe occidentale.

The latest addition to my library is Singing Orthoptera of Slovenia Stanislav gomboc & Blaz Segula which enables identification of at least some species further east. This is in English and Slovenian and was well worth the £45.

I’m told that Handbook to the Grasshoppers and Allied Insects of the Veneto Region
Fontana. Buzzetti, Cogo, Odé is worth having too. However it is hard to find. At the moment I can only find US sellers who have it. I did find one who’d ship it but I was annoyed that the seller put the shipping rate up after I’d ordered it on Abebooks. I refused to pay the extra (it took it up to about £90) so the order was cancelled.

The most useful website that I’ve found is this
https://www.grasshoppersofeurope.com/

I’ve never understood why Orthoptera,especially crickets, aren’t more popular as a group. Hopefully this will encourage others. If there are any more books/websites anyone knows of, it’d be great to share them.

I did start a European Orthoptera Facebook group but it’s basically dead now due to lack of members.

Cheers

Steve

 

[aeshna5]

Published earlier this year was:

The Grasshoppers of Greece by Williemse, Kleukers + Ode.

It covers all the Orthoptera not just grasshoppers of the region + is in English. There are keys, detailed info for each genus with species listed, excellent photos + at the back oscillograms + distribution maps.

Though primarily aimed at Greece including the islands this book will be useful for surrounding countries too.

 

[Steve Babbs]

Excellent. I'm just about to order that. I'm glad I started this thread.

 

[Andy Adcock]

I’ve never understood why Orthoptera,especially crickets, aren’t more popular as a group. Hopefully this will encourage others. If there are any more books/websites anyone knows of, it’d be great to share them.


Steve

Possibly because they're so damned hard! Especially as you point out, with the limited material available to ID them.

 

[Steve Babbs]

They're not hard in western Europe, with a good field guide. Certainly not as hard as european butterflies, which I find a nightmare. The Slovenia and Greek guides will help a lot with more eastern countries.

 

[pdwinter]

Steve

Do you know how good "Le guide des sauterelles, grillons et criquets d'Europe occidentale" is for Spanish opthoptera?

Thanks, Paul

 

[Steve Babbs]

A quick scan of my copy with my limted French seems to say that it's aimed at France, Holland, Switzerland, Belgium and Germany but it's obviously going to cover many species of northern Spain and some elsewhere. I haven't been south of the Picos and Somiedo since I've had it.

 

[pdwinter]

Thanks Steve

 

[RafaelMatias]

Another potential source of good info is the invertebrates photo database of the "Biodiversidad Virtual" website, known as "Insectarium". This includes only Iberian species (but might be useful for neighbouring countries) and is a bit awkward to navigate if you're nor familiar with or are annoyed by the minutiae of scientific classification. In order to get to the individual species' folder containing the respective photos, you need to open the folders progressively (like in a "matryoshka doll" system) from the higher classification levels all the way down to the genera and then species levels. There are some useful notes, in Spanish, that you can always easily read by using an automatic tool to translate the whole page. In practice it also works as a list of Iberian species. Some species have no photos yet and others have very few, but this is work in progress, with new photos added as they are received/submitted. You can also use the search function ("Buscar") to go straight to the species you're looking for by typing in its scientific name. Additionally, it might be useful to get clues on locations and dates of occurrence for rarer species with little available info elsewhere.
The Orthoptera sections starts here: https://www.biodiversidadvirtual.org/insectarium/Orden-Orthoptera-cat254.html
Enjoy

 

[pdwinter]

Thanks Rafael. I only (usually) visit Málaga province and have the checklist that Florent produced (in https://www.researchgate.net/public...cies_oromediterraneas_en_Sierra_Tejeda_Espana). The Biodiversidad Virtual looks good !

Paul

 

[Tiraya]

We have some regional experts that check iNaturalist observations sometimes, so if you post photos there, that can be a good start. Here is the current "database" of the European Orthoptera at present: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=97391&subview=grid&taxon_id=47651&view=species

 

[RafaelMatias]

Here's one more website with ID info on a small range of European species: http://www.pyrgus.de/familien_en.php?gruppe=saltatoria

 

[honeym]

Thanks Rafael. I only (usually) visit Málaga province and have the checklist that Florent produced (in https://www.researchgate.net/public...cies_oromediterraneas_en_Sierra_Tejeda_Espana). The Biodiversidad Virtual looks good !

Paul

I've not seen it but there's also this:

Estudio faunistico de los ortopteros (insecta: Orthoptera) de la provincia de Malaga (andalucia, espana).
[Faunistic study of the orthopterans (Insecta: Orthoptera) of Malaga province (Andalusia, Spain)].
By: Quinones-Alarcon, Juan; Llucia-Pomares, David
Boletin de la SEA Volume: 62 Pages: 181-219 Published: Jun 30 2018

Martin

 

[Val35]

I use this book : http://ascete.org/fr/cahier-didentification-des-orthopteres/.
It covers all the Orthoptera species of France (including Corsica), Switzerland, Belgium and Luxemburg. The photos are good but, most important, the ID keys are clear and easy to follow (and they are illustrated). The book comes with a CD containing at least one recording of each singing species and sonagrams.
It's easy to find on Amazon or other websites but it's all in French.