Chorthippus Glyptobothrus mollis

References to song. Bukhvalova (1993): recordings from the North Caucasus, North Ossetia; Ragge & Reynolds (1998): recordings from Western Europe; Benediktov (2005): recordings from South Siberia, Tyva; Tishechkin & Bukhvalova (2009b): recordings from the northern part of Saratov Oblast; Savitsky & Lekarev (2007): recordings from the Lower Volga Region and Western Kazakhstan (Janybek, ca. 5 km from the Russia border); Savitsky (2009): recordings from Western Kazakhstan (Janybek, ca. 5 km from the Russia border); Willemse et al. (2009): recordings from Greece.

Song. The calling song is an echeme sequence, beginning quietly and reaching maximum intensity in the second half or near the end (Figs. 35–38). Song duration in males from Central Asia ranges from 5 to 8 s. Each echeme consists of an abrupt high-amplitude “click” and a succession of syllables (Figs. 39–46). Echeme repetition period averages 320–450 ms in our recordings.

Comparative notes. In males from Central Asia the songs are shorter than in West European ones (5–8 s and 15–30 s, respectively). Also, the songs of males from Central Asia end abruptly, whereas in European males echemes in the end of a song usually (but not always!) become more spaced out and progressively quieter (Ragge & Reynolds, 1998). In males from semideserts and deserts of the Lower Volga Region song duration ranges from 6 to 35.5 s and about 60% of songs end with quieter pulses without characteristic “click” (Savitsky & Lekarev, 2007). Thus, the differences between the songs of European and Central Asiatic males are apparently the result of clinal variation and give no grounds for description of a separate subspecies.

G. mollis was recorded from Kazakhstan and Central Asia by many authors (Bey-Bienko & Mistshenko, 1951; Harz, 1975; Ragge & Reynolds, 1998, etc.), but no records from Central Asia were confirmed by signal oscillograms; thus the South-eastern border of its range was obscure. In Kyrgyzstan this species is rather common on the shores of the Issyk-Kul’ Lake (the North Tien Shan Mts.) and was found in the midlands of the Central Tien Shan Mts., but was never found in the West Tien Shan Mts., Alai and Turkestan Mtn. Ranges, and in the arid foothills and midlands on the border of Ferghana Valley. Apparently, it does not penetrate south beyond the North and Central Tien Shan Mts. [1]

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