Verbal introductions to each species are accompanied by images of typical habitat for the species. Where calling and courtship songs are included without modification using a bat detector, they might not be audible to many viewers. In some cases, this might be remedied by increasing the volume of the player, or tuning to enhanced high frequencies. Many sequences shown are brief clips from longer episodes of behaviour.
1. Introduction – 00:00:20
2. Great green bush-cricket – 00:03:15
A stationary female among tall vegetation – very difficult to see, despite its large size; a male stridulates from an elevated perch. The song is loud and metallic, delivered in long, continuous bursts with occasional brief pauses.
3. Wartbiter – 00:04:11
A female seeks an egg-laying site in short vegetation. A female catches a relatively large insect, and eats it – note the use of long palps. Views of stationary males, showing brown stridulatory apparatus at base of forewings. The male song is quiet, and so two sequences of male song modified using a bat detector are included. The first consists of distinct, short bursts, the second, more typical, consists of a prolonged, continuous repetition of echemes.
4. Dark bush-cricket – 00:06:19
A male and female bask on bramble, late afternoon. A male preens. A male delivers brief chirps as he moves through vegetation. Male delivers more prolonged chirp, associated with close encounters with other males – note the response from a nearby female. A courtship sequence – note the ‘fencing’ with their antennae. Another pair: the female mounts the male, palpating the dorsal segments of his abdomen. He kicks her away, but continues to chirp, signalling he is still ready to mate. Two females remain close by. Modified sound of several nearby males chirping, followed by close-up of a singing male.
5. Grey bush-cricket – 00:09:40
A male patrols a tuft of marram grass, briefly engaging in hostile interaction with another male. A singing male – unmodified; sound very quiet. A stationary female among marram grass – note continuous monitoring with her antennae. A female basks and then returns to cover. A female feeds on dry stems of marram grass and other detritus. Recording of the modified song, which consists of prolonged sequences of repeated echemes. Close-up of singing male.
6. Bog Bush Cricket – 00:12:26
A green male dives for cover. A brown female basks and preens. Calling song of a male, sound modified, followed by another singing male, this time in view. Note the exposed mirror on the right fore wing.
7. Roesel’s bush-cricket – 00:13:27
A freshly emerged male catches and eats a small invertebrate; note the continuous use of the antennae in navigation. A green female basks, cleans her ovipositor, and then returns to deep vegetation. A singing male. A long-winged form of the male, also singing. Antagonistic interactions between two males on a favoured song platform. A courtship sequence between a long-winged male and normal form of the female. He continues to sing, and ‘strokes’ the female with his antennae. She moves off, and he follows. Several clips from a longer sequence of a female biting a club-rush stem and using her curved ovipositor to lay an egg in the plant tissue. Sequences of modified sound of the calling song: a prolonged ‘buzz’, without clearly distinguishable echemes. Shorter bursts of song produced by rival males at close quarters.
8. Long-winged conehead – 00:17:09
A singing male. The unmodified song is very quiet. A female cleans her ovipositor. A male catches and eats a tiny insect running up a plant stem. Another male feeds on grass seeds. A male sings while searching for a potential mate. A courtship is interrupted by the arrival of a second male. Courtship is resumed, and the male succeeds in grasping the female. A second female arrives and the male attempts to mate again. A female points her ovipositor down at approximately 90° to her body, and probes a plant stem. Competitive interaction between two females. Modified calling song of the male: a prolonged and usually uniform repetition of echemes, sounding like an electric motor.
9. Short-winged conehead – 00:21:02
A male sings as he moves through vegetation. Another male feeds on Chenopodium flower-heads. A male appears to scent-mark a leaf. A stationary singing male. Antagonistic interaction between a long-winged and a normal form of the male – note ‘fencing’ with antennae and the threat posture of one male, abdomen curved down as if intending to mate. Clips from a longer sequence, in which a courtship is interrupted by the arrival (from below) of a rival male. The two males fight by kicking with their hind legs, while the female makes off, left. One of the males rejoins the female and attempts to mate with her, but fails, despite her apparent cooperation. A courting male ‘strokes’ a female with his antennae and vibrates. A female chews a hole in a club-rush stem, attempts to insert her ovipositor, fails, and continues to chew. The quiet song is best heard with the use of a bat-detector. The song is a prolonged sequences of echemes, superficially similar to that of the long-winged conehead, but phases of rapidly repeated echemes are interspersed with (usually shorter) phases of slower ‘ticking’.
10. Speckled bush-cricket – 00:25:28
A male basks on a leaf of bindweed. A female, close by. A male feeds from a desiccated blackberry. The (modified) male calling song; an irregularly spaced series of very brief chirps, or ‘clicks’.
11. Field cricket – 00:27:19
A female makes a brief sortie from her burrow and returns, with a male singing in the background. A female leaves a burrow that she shares with a male, and subsequently returns to it. A male courts a female, without success. A male emerges from his burrow, tends the adjacent ‘platform’, and produces the prolonged sequence of repeated chirps of the calling song (note the raised position of the fore wings). A female arrives and the male song is modified to the courtship mode. She inspects the burrow, and then is induced to mount the male, who makes distinctive sideways twists as mating takes place. The female subsequently enters and then emerges from the burrow, rear-end first, showing the small white spermatophore.
12. Cepero’s groundhopper – 00:30:43
A female feeds on detritus. A male searches among dead plant stems. A male leans down in the direction of a female and delivers the ‘pronotal bob’ courtship signal (see Chapter 8). He then approaches and mounts the female, but is intercepted by a rival male. Two females are feeding on soil algae when one is approached by a male. He mounts her, but she vibrates so violently that he is shaken off. Directly afterwards, another male approaches, mounts and successfully mates with her.
13. Slender groundhopper – 00:32:43
A female feeds on soil algae, probing with her palpi. A female is approached by a male who performs several ‘forward swing’ courtship signals. He then mounts and mates with the female, while another male climbs over him and subsequently succeeds in mating with the female from her other side.
14. Common groundhopper – 00:34:31
A male feeds on small mosses. Interactions between males: a male approaches another, who gives a double ‘leg-flick’ signal, and vibrates as the first male mounts him and then dismounts. Two adjacent males give vibratory signals to one another. A male gives a series of ‘forward-swing’ signals and moves towards a female, mounts from the rear, and successfully mates with her.
15. Common and slender groundhoppers – 00:35:57
Sequences of interactions between the two species: complex interactions between three male common and one male slender groundhopper; an approaching male slender groundhopper elicits leg flick and vibratory responses from a male common groundhopper, and then mounts him; a male slender groundhopper is rejected by a female common groundhopper; a male slender groundhopper mounts and successfully mates with a female slender groundhopper; a male common groundhopper mounts a female slender groundhopper, who vibrates and eventually dislodges him. Clips from a longer sequence, in which: a male common groundhopper mounts a female slender groundhopper; a male slender groundhopper attempts to drag him off by the genitalia, and the female eventually shakes him off by moving forwards; the male slender groundhopper then walks to the female, eliciting a strong vibratory signal from the disappointed common groundhopper male as he does so; the male slender groundhopper then mates with the female and departs. (Not shown is the subsequent movement of the female slender groundhopper towards the male common groundhopper, who promptly mounts and mates with her.)
16. Large marsh grasshopper – 00:39:32
A female at rest on Sphagnum moss. A male preens his head and antenna. A male climbs through vegetation and delivers a sequence of the distinctive ‘tick’ stridulations. Another male stridulates and then bites off a section of the stem of a sedge – note the use of the fore legs in manipulating the stem. Another male stridulates from a perch, alternating with another close by.
17. Stripe-winged grasshopper – 00:41:28
‘Brown’ form of the female. A male climbs through grasses and stridulates. The leg movements are slow, and slightly out of sync. with one another. There are 26 syllables in the single, prolonged echeme of this particular song. The song is difficult to hear, but in this case is overwhelmed by the song of a nearby common green grasshopper. A male courts a female with rapid small amplitude vibrations of the hind legs, while she continues feeding and then departs. He follows and resumes courtship (many times!). The calling song of the male, as modified by a bat detector.
18. Lesser mottled grasshopper – 00:43:16
A male moves around on a grassy ‘platform’ by the sea. A female at rest on a patch of ling. A searching male finds a courting pair, attempts to mount the female, but is rejected and she departs. He follows but is then displaced by another male. The first male turns, preens and produces a brief stridulation, while his rival continues the chase.
19. Woodland grasshopper – 00:45:25
A female at rest on ling. A male basks in the sun. A male preens and tests a grass blade with its white palps. A male stridulates briefly. Another male cleans an antenna and then stridulates. The song is a single, brief echeme (in this case about 6 seconds), beginning quietly and increasing in intensity to the end.
20. Common green grasshopper – 00:47:04
A green female at rest. A male feeds on a grass blade. A green male stridulates from a perch in a gorse bush. The song is similar to that of the woodland grasshopper, but continues for longer at maximum intensity. This example is typical, lasting approximately 23 seconds. A brown form of the male sings and is joined by another, which continues to sing after the end of the song of the one in view. This song is longer than normal, possibly because of competition from the other male. A sequence of courtship behaviour of a male, showing a series of (12) leg flicks, resembling the ‘ticking’ stridulation of the large marsh grasshopper, followed by prolonged small-amplitude vibrations of the hind legs.
21. Common field grasshopper – 00:49:34
The male calling song – repeated brief chirps. Two males pursue an unwilling female, chirping as they go. Eventually they move off, chirping (to each other in rivalry?) as they go. A female is rapidly approached by a male, who attempts to mount and is repulsed by means of a double ‘flick’ with the hind legs. He continues to chirp as two other males arrive, one of them attempting to mount the female from the rear. This, too, is repulsed by the female, as is a second attempt by the first male. The males chirp frequently throughout. A mating pair.
22. Heath grasshopper – 00:51:06
A female at rest, cleans its antennae. A male feeds on gorse. Three episodes of male stridulation. This is quiet, and obscured by traffic noise (increasing the play-back volume might help). The first sequence illustrates the incidence of pauses in some performances of the song (Ragge & Reynolds 1998, 395).
23. Meadow grasshopper – 00:52:43
A female feeds from a grass blade. A female completes egg-laying. A male exchanges short bursts of song with a ‘rival’ male. The song consists of a single echeme lasting 1 to 2 seconds, beginning quietly and gaining intensity, and repeated at variable intervals. A complex sequence in which male ‘A’ (lower left) is approached by an ‘intruder (‘B’). B approaches and makes antennal contact with A, who then issues a series of signals which involve raising the head and stretching the fore legs, while drawing one antenna through a front tarsus. B backs slightly, stridulates, turns round and withdraws, while A continues to repeat the head-raising signal. As he leaves, B stridulates briefly, and so does A. B leaves, and A delivers two further stridulations, turns and repeats the ‘head-raising’ signal several times. A male approaches a female, antennae pointing forwards, and produces several brief stridulations. Eventually, he makes a lunge at the female, who moves off.
24. Lesser marsh grasshopper – 00:55:32
Typical escape behaviour – note the ability to run backwards. A male basks and preens, turning periodically to expose each side to the sun. A male feeds on plant material – note the use of the fore legs. Two examples of the male calling song; a brief echeme repeated from 2 to 6 times in a sequence. A searching male locates a female, spreads his antennae wide, and begins the low-intensity courtship sequence. Three clips of phases in courtship – note the male vibrates his hind legs, alternating between femora held high and low, and later rocking his body. Finally, a female turns and repulses a male’s brief attempt to mount. Two males are lined up behind a female, when a third male approaches and tries to mount the female. She kicks him away, while the other males respond to the approach of the rejected male with brief ‘leg-flick’ signals. A male makes repeated attempts to mount a female, who responds with sharp kicks. A male performs a courtship sequence in the absence of a female.
25. Rufous grasshopper – 00:59:29
A male feeds on a fine grass blade. A female of the purple form. Four examples of the brief, quiet male calling song. The short bursts lasting 3–10 seconds are easily masked by other ambient sounds (raising the play-back volume might help). A male produces his amazingly complex ‘song and dance’ courtship routine (for descriptions, see Ragge & Reynolds 1998: 374, or Chapter 8 in this volume). A mating pair. Two males compete for the same female. A courtship sequence, with the subdued sounds amplified using a bat detector.
26. Mottled grasshopper – 01:03:15
Three examples of the male calling song. Each burst might last up to 15 seconds, produced by alternating movements of the hind femora, beginning very quietly and increasing in volume towards the end (even then the sound is not loud, and high volume may be needed in play-back). An unusual male song, consisting of repeated short bursts produced by rapid movements of the hind femora. Apparently antagonistic interactions between two males, who exchange double hind ‘leg-flick’ signals. A courting male is approached by a rival, and the two exchange rapidly repeated leg-flick signals, while the female departs. Extracts from an extremely long courtship sequence, in which the male performs a complex ‘song and dance’ routine many times, and the female plays a ‘cat and mouse’ game, occasionally producing a brief stridulation before moving off a short distance. A male courts a female who departs part way through. The male continues to the end of the performance and then lunges at the empty space formerly occupied by the female. A male courts another male. The male was in fact dead and in the grip of a spider. It might be that males rely on the ‘leg-flick’ response from other males to distinguish the sexes.