A Comparison of the Grasshopper Fauna (Orthoptera: Acridoidea &amp; Eumastacoidea) of the Uluguru Mountains and the East Usambara Mountains, Tanzania

Hochkirch, Axel

doi:10.2982/0012-8317(1998)87[221:acotgf]2.0.co;2

Cited by 9 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 21 publications

(21 reference statements)

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“…For this reason the combination of homochromy, passive behaviour and very slow movements is important to avoid being sighted. Predation partly explains why these grasshoppers stay in subapical branches during the day and climb to the top for feeding at night, a common behaviour in rainforest grasshoppers, which undergo high predation pressure (Hochkirch, 1998). However, to metabolise efficiently, large females require longer periods of sunlight than males for thermoregulation, as occurs with continental grasshoppers (Hochkirch & Papen, 2001).…”

Section: Habitat Usementioning

confidence: 99%

Habitat use and phenology of the large insular endemic grasshopperAcrostira euphorbiae(Orthoptera: Pamphagidae)

López

Nogales

Morales

et al. 2007

Bull. Entomol. Res.

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The habitat use and the phenology of the large grasshopper Acrostira euphorbiae García and Oromí endemic to La Palma (Canary Islands) are studied. This grasshopper is entirely dependent on the Canarian endemic shrub Euphorbia lamarckii both for food and to avoid predation. Adults stay on subapical branches during the day, probably to reduce the risk of predation, and climb up to the apex at night to feed. While females seem to ensure the genetic diversity of offspring by waiting for visits by different males, the latter have to move to guarantee their reproductive success. Monophagy in this species may be related to the year-round presence of tender shoots, and to the predator-repellent toxic latex found in the host plant. Unlike related species from continental areas, adults and nymphs of A. euphorbiae are present almost all year round, probably in adaptation to the particular climate of the islands. Nymphs are more abundant in winter, when Euphorbia leaves are most available. However, adults are more abundant than nymphs in spring, summer and autumn. Males develop more quickly than females, an apparent reproductive strategy based on achieving sexual maturity to coincide with females undergoing imaginal moulting. Matings start immediately after adult females emerge. Densities oscillated between 73 and 193 individuals ha(-1), which can be considered a low value compared with other continental pamphagid species.

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Section: Habitat Usementioning

confidence: 99%

Habitat use and phenology of the large insular endemic grasshopperAcrostira euphorbiae(Orthoptera: Pamphagidae)

López

Nogales

Morales

et al. 2007

Bull. Entomol. Res.

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“…First collections giving a rough overview of the Orthoptera fauna of the West and East Usambaras were made by a Swedish Expedition at the beginning of the last century (Sjöstedt 1909). Hochkirch (1996) described one Catantopinae species from the East Usambara Mountains and listed 42 Caelifera (Hochkirch 1998) in a faunistic enabling me to visit the Natural History Museum London, Uk, the Naturkunde Museum of Vienna, Austria, the Orthoptera collection of the Naturhistoriska Riksmuseet, Stockholm, Sweden, the Orthoptera collection of the Africamuseum, Tervuren, the Natural History Museum Paris, France and the collection of the Zoological Museum in Copenhagen, Denmark. Thanks also to Prof Henrik Enghoff for his kind assistance allowing me to study the Orthoptera collection in the Zoological Museum of Copenhagen.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Annotated list of Tettigoniidae (Orthoptera) from the East Usambara Mountains, Tanzania and new Tettigoniidae species from East Africa

Hemp

2013

Zootaxa

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A list of the Tettigoniidae (Orthoptera) of the East Usambara Mountains is presented and 16 new species are described from East Africa. A total number of 29 Tettigoniidae species is recorded for the East Usambara Mountains. New species are described from the Shimba Hills in Kenya, coastal Tanzania from the Kazimzumbwi forest reserve, Mt Kilimanjaro, the East and West Usambara and Uluguru Mountains in Tanzania, namely in Conocephalinae Afroagraecia pwania n. sp., Afroagraecia shimbaensis n. sp., Afroanthracites discolor n. sp., Afroanthracites jagoi n. sp. and Afroanthracites viridis n. sp., in Meconematinae Afrophisis flagellata n. sp., Afrophisis kisarawe n. sp., Afrophisis mazumbaiensis n. sp. and Afrophisis pseudoflagellata n. sp., in Hexacentrinae Aerotegmina megaloptera n. sp., in Mecopodinae Apteroscirtus cristatus n. sp., and A. planidorsatus n. sp., in Phaneropterinae Gelotopoia amabilis n. sp., and in Pseudophyllinae Cymatomerella pardopunctata n. sp. and Cymatomera viridimaculata n. sp. Seven species are endemic to the East Usambara Mountains which are 25% of the recorded forest-bound bush crickets. The Tettigoniidae fauna is compared between the East Usambara Mountains and Mt Kilimanjaro and mechanisms of speciation discussed in Orthoptera for the area. New Tettigoniidae records are given for Mt Kilimanjaro (Oxyecous apertus Ragge, Tropidonotacris grandis Ragge and Eurycorypha conclusa Hemp).

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“…Ecological niches of species are generally thought to be highly conserved (Peterson et al 1999) and this seems to be particularly true for the tropics (Wiens and Graham 2005). Indeed, tropical mountain forests often maintain a species-rich fauna, and different mountain blocks have a low species overlap but a high number of shared genera (Hochkirch 1998). This pattern leads to high gamma-diversity (i.e.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Eastern Arc belongs to the global hotspots of biodiversity (Myers et al 2000) and is known for its great species richness with a high degree of endemism (Rodgers and Homewood 1982;Lovett and Wasser 1993;Burgess et al 2007). This is particularly true for flightless insect species, such as most forest grasshoppers (Hochkirch 1998). One major reason for the high degree of endemism in the Eastern Arc fauna seems to be the comparatively stable climate during Pleistocene climatic fluctuations (Scharff 1993).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Niche Conservatism among Allopatric Species of the Grasshopper Genus Afrophlaeoba Jago, 1983 in the Eastern Arc Mountains (Tanzania)

Hochkirch

2009

Relict Species

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The persistence of species is strongly determined by their ecological niches. It is therefore, of major importance to obtain knowledge on the niche attributes of relict species in order to conserve these species and understand their current distribution patterns. Niche conservatism has been proposed to explain distribution patterns of many taxa, particularly in the tropics. Indeed, the high gamma diversity in the tropics seems to be influenced by allopatric assemblages of shared genera, whereas species overlap is often relatively low. Here, the niche overlap of allopatric Afrophlaeoba grasshopper species from the Eastern Arc Mountains (Tanzania) is studied and compared with niche overlaps among sympatric but distantly related species in the East Usambara Mountains. The results show that the genus Afrophlaeoba exhibits a strong degree of niche conservatism. All congeneric species are confined to grassy forest edges. Niche overlap within this genus was generally higher than expected by chance and higher than among sympatric species, whereas the variance of niche overlaps between species pairs was low. While the sympatric species could be distinguished ecologically using a few microhabitat variables, a comprehensive data set for the Afrophlaeoba species revealed only little resolution. The results support the hypothesis that diversification within tropical grasshoppers is not driven by niche divergence, but by allopatric isolation. Based on the niche quality of Afrophlaeoba, it is proposed that the persistence of the genus (and probably other forest taxa) might also be possible in riverine forests. There is a strong need for studies on the potential role of gallery forests as corridors for gene flow among mountain forest taxa.

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A Comparison of the Grasshopper Fauna (Orthoptera: Acridoidea & Eumastacoidea) of the Uluguru Mountains and the East Usambara Mountains, Tanzania

Cited by 9 publications

References 21 publications

Habitat use and phenology of the large insular endemic grasshopperAcrostira euphorbiae(Orthoptera: Pamphagidae)

Habitat use and phenology of the large insular endemic grasshopperAcrostira euphorbiae(Orthoptera: Pamphagidae)

Annotated list of Tettigoniidae (Orthoptera) from the East Usambara Mountains, Tanzania and new Tettigoniidae species from East Africa

Niche Conservatism among Allopatric Species of the Grasshopper Genus Afrophlaeoba Jago, 1983 in the Eastern Arc Mountains (Tanzania)

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