Catalogue |
Corresponding author: Rūta Starka ( ruta.starka@lu.lv ) Academic editor: Zhu-Qing He
© 2022 Rūta Starka, Uģis Piterāns, Voldemārs Spuņģis.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY 4.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Citation:
Starka R, Piterāns U, Spuņģis V (2022) Annotated catalogue of Orthoptera (Orthoptera, Insecta) of Latvia. ZooKeys 1134: 39-52. https://doi.org/10.3897/zookeys.1134.95637
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We present a revised list of Latvian species of Orthoptera and provide notes on their occurrence and present knowledge. New information on orthopteran observations from online databases, local unpublished studies, entomological collections, and our direct observations is combined, and a dataset of more than 1500 recent observations is provided. All historical synonyms used in the reviewed information sources are presented. As a result, an annotated list of 52 Orthoptera species is compiled, from which five newly reported species in Latvia are presented here for the first time together with distribution maps. In conclusion, the presence of 43 species of Orthoptera is confirmed in Latvia.
Baltics, citizen science, diversity, faunal checklist, historic review
The first mentions of orthopteroids in the territory of Latvia date back to 18th century (
With the growing popularity of citizen science (hereafter referred to as “CS”) platforms and successful nominations of some Orthoptera species as “Insect of the Year” by The Entomological Society of Latvia (Psophus stridulus in 2001, Acheta domesticus in 2002, Gryllotalpa gryllotalpa in 2007, and Oedipoda caerulescens in 2013), the interest of Orthoptera and other insects has grown and resulted in accumulated, unpublished observational data on CS platforms. In Latvia, the foremost popular and most commonly used CS platform is “Dabasdati.lv” (
Until now, there are a few lists of Latvian Orthoptera, each including up to 45 species. However, none of these lists are annotated, nor do they critically review the historic data, and they are not taxonomically up-to-date. Now, at a time of great declines of biodiversity, it is important to summarize and update information on Latvian Orthoptera to set a new baseline after almost 80 years since the last thorough review. Therefore, the aim of this study is to create a revised, annotated list of Orthoptera species in Latvia and to discuss their distribution and occurrence. To do so, we update the scientific nomenclature to the latest taxonomic changes, review all historical records of each species, gather recent unpublished data, and compile the latest occurrences and habitat preferences in Latvia of each species.
Latvia is in the center of the Baltic region, situated between Lithuania in the south and Estonia in the north, and occupies a total area of 64573 km2, from which 62210 km2 are land areas (
Grassland, dune, heathland, and mire habitats are important for orthopteran diversity in Latvia (
The species list was created by adding up all the available information from historical records (
Taxonomical hierarchy was obtained from the “Orthoptera Species File” online database (
Notes on occurrence in Latvia were combined from original data of the online databases “Dabasdati.lv” (
When combining all the available information on the Latvian orthopteran fauna, a list of 52 species belonging to 34 genera and six families was obtained. From the analyzed species, five are newly reported from Latvia (Fig.
Check-list of Orthoptera species in Latvia. Newly reported species are indicated with an asterisk (*).
Suborder | Family | Subfamily | Species |
---|---|---|---|
Caelifera | Acrididae MacLeay, 1821 | Gomphocerinae Fieber, 1853 | Chorthippus (Chorthippus) albomarginatus (De Geer, 1773) |
Chorthippus (Chorthippus) dorsatus (Zetterstedt, 1821) | |||
Chorthippus (Glyptobothrus) apricarius (Linnaeus, 1758) | |||
Chorthippus (Glyptobothrus) biguttulus (Linnaeus, 1758) | |||
Chorthippus (Glyptobothrus) brunneus (Thunberg, 1815) | |||
Chorthippus (Glyptobothrus) pullus (Philippi, 1830) | |||
Chorthippus (Glyptobothrus) vagans (Eversmann, 1848)* | |||
Chrysochraon dispar (Germar, 1834) | |||
Euthystira brachyptera (Ocskay, 1826) | |||
Myrmeleotettix maculatus (Thunberg, 1815) | |||
Omocestus (Omocestus) haemorrhoidalis (Charpentier, 1825) | |||
Omocestus (Omocestus) viridulus (Linnaeus, 1758) | |||
Pseudochorthippus montanus (Charpentier, 1825) | |||
Pseudochorthippus parallelus (Zetterstedt, 1821) | |||
Stauroderus scalaris (Fischer von Waldheim, 1846) | |||
Stenobothrus lineatus (Panzer, 1796) | |||
Stenobothrus stigmaticus (Rambur, 1838) | |||
Melanoplinae Scudder, 1897 | Podisma pedestris (Linnaeus, 1758) | ||
Oedipodinae Walker, 1871 | Locusta migratoria (Linnaeus, 1758) | ||
Oedipoda caerulescens (Linnaeus, 1758) | |||
Psophus stridulus (Linnaeus, 1758) | |||
Sphingonotus (Sphingonotus) caerulans (Linnaeus, 1767) | |||
Stethophyma grossum (Linnaeus, 1758) | |||
Tetrigidae Rambur, 1838 | Tetriginae Rambur, 1838 | Tetrix bipunctata (Linnaeus, 1758) | |
Tetrix subulata (Linnaeus, 1758) | |||
Tetrix tenuicornis (Sahlberg, 1891)* | |||
Tetrix undulata (Sowerby, 1806) | |||
Ensifera | Gryllidae Laicharting, 1781 | Gryllinae Laicharting, 1781 | Acheta domesticus (Linnaeus, 1758) |
Gryllotalpidae Leach, 1815 | Gryllotalpinae Leach, 1815 | Gryllotalpa gryllotalpa (Linnaeus, 1758) | |
Rhaphidophoridae Walker, 1869 | Aemodogryllinae Jacobson, 1905 | Tachycines (Tachycines) asynamorus Adelung, 1902 | |
Tettigoniidae Krauss, 1902 | Conocephalinae Kirby & Spence, 1826 | Conocephalus (Anisoptera) dorsalis (Latreille, 1804) | |
Conocephalus (Anisoptera) fuscus (Fabricius, 1793)* | |||
Meconematinae Burmeister, 1838 | Meconema thalassinum (De Geer, 1773)* | ||
Phaneropterinae Burmeister, 1838 | Barbitistes constrictus Brunner von Wattenwyl, 1878 | ||
Leptophyes punctatissima (Bosc, 1792)* | |||
Phaneroptera (Phaneroptera) falcata (Poda, 1761) | |||
Tettigoniinae Krauss, 1902 | Bicolorana bicolor (Philippi, 1830) | ||
Decticus verrucivorus (Linnaeus, 1758) | |||
Metrioptera brachyptera (Linnaeus, 1761) | |||
Pholidoptera griseoaptera (De Geer 1773) | |||
Roeseliana roeselii (Hagenbach, 1822) | |||
Tettigonia cantans (Fuessly, 1775) | |||
Tettigonia viridissima (Linnaeus, 1758) |
Distribution of five new species to Latvia. Observations are shown on 10 × 10 km grid cells. Black cells indicate distribution derived from observations. Gray cells indicate possible range (40 km buffer from each observation point) A Chorthippus vagans B Conocephalus fuscus C Leptophyes punctatissima D Meconema thalassinum E Bicolorana bicolor.
Local faunal inventories are as important as ecological studies from a biogeographical viewpoint. Compiling all historical information shows how the fauna is changing with climate and how the knowledge of taxonomy and diversity has improved with time. According to the last IUCN Red List assessment of Orthoptera, 1082 species are native to or naturalised in Europe (
Taxonomic changes in genera and species can be easily tracked using regularly updated databases such as Orthoptera Species File (
Some of the species have problematic population status. For example, Bryodemella tuberculata is not only locally extinct in Latvia (
The examples above highlight the necessity of conservation actions. First of all, distributional studies are needed—to this day, no species of Orthoptera are monitored by any monitoring programme. From the available occurrence data, a number of species (e.g., Myrmeleotettix maculatus, Tetrix bipunctata, Pholidoptera griseoaptera, Conocephalus dorsalis, and species of the subfamily Oedipodinae) show a coastal distribution pattern (Suppl. material
The necessity of monitoring also applies to more common and new to Latvia species. For example, the geographical range borders of Tetrix tenuicornis are Spain in the south and Finland in the north (
With a warming climate, the dispersal of species to the north (
CS platforms, while being extremely useful, are not a substitute to monitoring, as the data obtained from them can be problematic. First of all, more observations are expected from areas with dense human population (higher possibility of observation due to higher research effort). Secondly, in many occasions there is a difficulty in determining species due to a lack of photographs showing the characteristic traits well. Third, some orthopteran species (e.g., Meconema thalassinum and Barbitistes constrictus) live a hidden lifestyle and are less expected to be observed without particular searching. Some species are “not interesting” to a non-professional observer, due to their unremarkable appearance (e.g., Chorthippus spp.), while some are targeted by observers due to conservation status, interesting biology, or appearance (e.g., Oedipodidae species). This results in some species being underrepresented and others overrepresented. Even so, CS platforms are valuable tools to the scientific community, as they help to build knowledge.
Overall, we can expect additions to the local fauna in the coming years. As there is no monitoring programme for Orthoptera in Latvia, the distribution and population trends in Latvia are little known. However, such information on diversity is crucial to conservation biology.
There are 43 species of Orthoptera in Latvia. Many of these species need more detailed information on occurrence, distribution and ecology, which could be achieved by a dedicated monitoring programme. A re-evaluation of the conservation status for multiple species is needed, especially those in the Oedipodinae subfamily.
We thank our colleague Kristaps Vilks from the University of Latvia, Faculty of Biology, Department of Zoology and Animal Ecology for the help with the collection and translation of Fischer’s and Kawall’s works. We would also like to thank Mārtiņš Kalniņš from Latvian State Forests for sharing the known localities of the rare species Sphingonotus caerulans, Podisma pedestris, and Meconema thalassinum, as well as the collection of some of the historical literature; Dmitry Telnov for consultations on taxonomy; and Gunita Deksne for useful comments on the earlier versions of the manuscript. We are grateful to all the people who contributed to the knowledge of species distribution by uploading their observations to the Dabasdati.lv and iNaturalist platforms. Finally, we thank the reviewers for useful comments on the manuscript. This research was funded by European Social Fund project “Strengthening of the Capacity of Doctoral Studies at the University of Latvia within the Framework of the New Doctoral Model”, identification no. 8.2.2.0/20/I/006.
Orthoptera occurrence data
Data type: occurrences
Explanation note: The data table contains over 1500 observations (dating from 2003 to 2021) of 42 Orthoptera species in Latvia. The columns contain the following information: A – species scientific name, B – observation date, C – data source, D and E – x and y coordinates in LKS-92 coordinate system, F and G – international coordinates (latitude, longitude).
Observational notes on Orthoptera species in Latvia
Data type: text
Explanation note: Information from historic resources, ecology research, species lists and observation data bases is combined to give a brief analysis of the known history, habitat preferences and occurrence of Orthoptera species in Latvia is presented. All historically used synonyms for every species is provided.