Neck-cutting cricket - Neck-cutting cricket

An insect belonging to the order Orthoptera of the family Tettigoniidae. It is a slender grasshopper with a medium-sized, conical head. Males chirp at night from the hot days of May through early summer, making a continuous buzzing sound that can be heard from far away in the trees. It is 57-65 mm from the top of the head to the tip of the wings. The body length is about 35 mm. There are green and light brown types. The top of the head protrudes forward, but looks parabolic when viewed from above. The compound eyes are small and elliptical. The pronotum is flat and the lateral shoulders are slightly sunken. The forewings are long and 42-47 mm long. The tibiae of the hind legs are not dark. The male's caudal horn bends inward at a right angle, and there is also one spine on the inside. The ovipositor is long and sword-shaped, narrow near the base, but widens towards the tip, then narrows again. It is found in Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu. It spends the summer as a larva and becomes an adult around October. It overwinters amongst grass and becomes active around May of the following year. A similar species is the Ogasawara grass grass E. pallidus , found in the Ogasawara Islands, south of the southern coast of Honshu, and in the tropical regions of the Orient. The top of the head and the tips of the forewings are sharper, but otherwise it is very similar to the grass grass and difficult to distinguish.

[Yamazaki Egane]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

昆虫綱直翅(ちょくし)目キリギリス科に属する昆虫。頭部が円錐(えんすい)形の中形で、細形のキリギリス。雄は5月ごろの暑い日から初夏にかけ、夜間樹上でジーンと遠くからでもよく聞こえる連続音を出して鳴く。頭頂から翅端まで57～65ミリメートル。体長は35ミリメートル内外。緑色型と淡褐色型がある。頭頂は前方へ突き出るが、上からみると放物線状にみえる。複眼は楕円(だえん)形で小形。前胸背は平たく、側葉肩部はややえぐれる。前翅は長く、42～47ミリメートルある。後ろ脚(あし)の脛節(けいせつ)は暗色にならない。雄の尾角は内方へ直角に曲がり、内側にも1本棘(とげ)がある。産卵管は剣状で長く基部付近で狭いが、先に向かうにつれて幅広くなり、ふたたびすこしずつ狭くなっていく。本州、四国、九州に分布する。夏の間、幼虫で過ごし、10月ごろに成虫となる。そのまま草の間などで越冬し、翌年5月ごろから活動を始める。近似種に小笠原(おがさわら)諸島や本州南岸以南、東洋の熱帯に分布するオガサワラクビキリギスE. pallidusがある。頭頂や前翅端はより鋭いが、ほかはクビキリギスとよく似ていて区別しにくい。

［山崎柄根］

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