Eyprepocnemis plorans (Charpentier, 1825)

Usmani, Mohammad Kamil, 2008, Studies on Acridoidea (Orthoptera) with some new records from Fezzan, Libya, Zootaxa 1946, pp. 1-41 : 20-21

17. Eyprepocnemis plorans (Charpentier, 1825)

(Barsim grasshopper)

Diagnosis: The species is generally slender, sometimes with somewhat shortened tegmina. The hind legs are long and slender. It can be distinguished by its characteristic hind tibiae, blue in proximal half with one or two pale bands and bright red distally, as also are the tarsi and by male cercus narrow, weakly compressed with acute apex.

Habitats: It is ambivorous and predominantly a grassland species. It is also found in cultivated ground and in abondoned farmland. This species rarely occurs in this area. Only few specimens were collected from alfalfa.

Material examined: Al Shati Region: Brack , 1 ♂, 1 ♀, on grass, 3.xii.1993 . Murzuk region: Traghan , 1 ♂, 2 ♀, on barley & grass, 27.v.1993 ; Ed Disah , 1 ♂, 2 ♀, on alfalfa & wild grass, 27.iv.1993 .

Localities: Cyrenaica: Barca, Bengasi, Fueihat; Tripolitania: Ain Zara, Endschila (Engila), Gharian, Millaha, Taguira, Tripoli; Fezzan: Brack, Ed Disah, Traghan.

Distribution: Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Libya, Tunisia, Mouretania, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Ivory Coast, Fernando, Cameroons, Guinea, Tanganyika, Sudan, Zanzibar, Eritrea, Nyasaland, Gabon, Congo, Cape Verde Is., Madagascar, S. Europe, S.W. Asia, Turkmenia, Caucasus, Iraq, Iran, India.

Remarks: This species is popularly known as Barsim or clove grasshoppers. It has the widest distribution, covering most of Africa, S. Europe and N. Asia. Earlier recorded from Tripolitania and Cyrenaica by Werner (1908), Ghigi (1913), I. Bolivar (1915), Zanon (1924), Salfi (1929) and Jannone (1938). It is recorded for the first time from Fezzan.