Conocephalinae, Burmeister, 1838

Massa, Bruno, 2020, Annotated checklist of Orthoptera of the Maltese Islands, Zootaxa 4885 (1), pp. 107-124 : 109

Subfamily: Conocephalinae

Conocephalus conocephalus (Linnaeus, 1767)

Reported from a single male specimen taken at Fiddien, a dry-river valley, in 1974 ( Schembri & Ebejer 1983). Subsequently, another male was taken at Mtahleb on 24.v.2000 by one of the authors [MJE].

Distribution. Associated with humid zones, with a wide distribution across the Western Palaearctic region and sub-Saharan Africa; it is also known to have a scattered distribution in the Afrotropical region.

Ruspolia nitidula (Scopoli, 1786)

Potentially quite vulnerable; this species is known from at least three localities, mostly riparian: Bahrija, Fiddien and Mtarfa ( Schembri & Ebejer 1983; Cassar 1990a). The population maintained within a segment of Bahrija valley is notably small; beyond its recorded presence, its status within the latter localities cannot be reliably discerned. A fourth population may be present in the area of Wied ta’ l-Isperanza [pers. comm. J. Farrugia-Cassar 2020], between Wied il-Qlejgħa and Mosta. However, further field investigations in the said locality are warranted since this may well be a case of fragmented subpopulations within run-off channels along an extensive riparian system (albeit a dry-river valley system typical of the semi-arid Mediterranean), which extends from the headwaters on the RabatDingli uplands to the lower tributaries nearer to Mosta.

Distribution. Wide Mediterranean distribution, extending into parts of the Afrotropical, Eastern Palaearctic and Middle Eastern regions; it is associated with humid zones.