Pale Raspy Cricket
S1, Male, anterior
Ellura
Pale Raspy Cricket
S1, Male, ventral
 
                      
Pale Raspy Cricket (Paragryllacris sp)Class: Animals (Animalia) - Jointed Legs (Arthropoda) - Insects (Insecta)
Order: Crickets, Grasshoppers & Katydids (Orthoptera)
Family: Leaf-rolling Cricket (Gryllacrididae)     iNaturalist Observation
Species: Pale Raspy Cricket (Paragryllacris sp)
This Photo:     🔍S1, Male, posterior🔎

Thank you Dr Paul Whitington for identifying this species for us

General Species Information:
Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA) and elsewhere
~23mm long Male.
Notice the rear end is quite different to Craspedogryllacris sp. There is also the obvious difference of the different coloured head, but colour is often not a good diagnostic tool when it comes to inverts.
Notice how the spines on the front leg are so hairy. While not clear in the above photo's, Craspedogryllacris sp exhibits the same morphology.
Paul said "I reckon this fits the description of this genus in Rentz and John 1990 pretty well. Here are some of the features that I think are evident in your photos.
  • fastigium of vertex strongly carinate (#1)
  • antennal scape with a very prominent swelling on internal margin (#2)
  • pronotum relatively strongly sulcate (marked with grooves, #4)
  • fore coxa with a prominent spine (#4)
  • fully winged
  • fore and middle tibiae with 5 elongate spines on each margin of ventral surface, apical spine minute, much more robust than those preceding (#1-5)
  • hind tibia armed dorsally with many elongate spines or few minute tubercles (#4)
  • hind femur with 1-4 robust teeth on outer margin of ventral surface, these positioned near apex, internal margin with 0-2 much smaller teeth, usually at apex, but may be positioned along entire apical half (#7 shows 4 teeth on outer margin, but 7 on inner margin, rather than 0-2)
  • male tergite IX terminating abruptly but not bulbate in profile, lateral angles produced and dentate (#7)
  • intercercal teeth small, divergent, widely separated but positioned internally relative to base of cercus (#7).

Copyright © 2020-2024 Brett & Marie Smith. All Rights Reserved. Photographed 15-Oct-2020
This species is an Australian Native Species, not listed in the SA Murray Mallee Survey of 2010.