Chorthippus lacustris (Thunberg, 1815)

Habitat:
Chorthippus lacustris inhabits a very special, humid habitat. It occurs only near to lakes or in shallow troughs which are flooded in winter. This habitats develop humid meadows in summer.

Life cycle:
The eggs are deposited in the soil. Here they survive the winter flooding and the larvae hatch after the retreat of the water. A lush humid meadow develops then which is in optimal case weakly grazed by lifestock. This optimizes a habitat structure that is favoured by all members of the Chorthippus albomarginatus group: no heavy felting of the vegetation, but also no overgrazing resulting in no cover for the insects. The adults appear between July and November. I observed still high densities on 30. October 2023. Chorthippus lacustris is known as the Epirus Dancing Grasshopper which refers to its courtship behaviour.The male ensnares the female with its long antennae with the white tips and also uses its hind legs with the often light knees and the white tarsus for jumping movements without really jumping (islow movements n the stand). The cerci are also white. This all resembles a dance.

Endangerment factors:
Chorthippus lacustris is threatened with extinction. It is endemic to the region of Epirus (NW-Greece) and is at the moment almost only found near Ioannina town. Most sites have already been destroyesd or degraded by overbuilding or intensification of agriculture. There is only one still individual-rich population some kilometres south of Ioannina. But also the environment of this site is degrading (settlement of industry, streets) even if the direct trought is still less disturbed. This population should consist of more than thousand individuals in good years on a surface of app. 500 x 500 metres.