Metrioptera roeselii (Hagenbach, 1822)

Nutrition:
First of all grasses, but also herbs and small insects.

Habitat:
Metrioptera roeselii inhabits grasslands of any kind, if they are not too dry and have at least small areas with little or no mowing. It is most common in wet meadows, fallow land, mesophilic extensive meadows, grassy forb communities and fresh, partly ruderalised areas in nutrient-poor grasslands. Metrioptera roeselii is usually absent from very xerothermic habitats without higher growing proportions. It also occurs occasionally in intensive agricultural meadows with manure fertilization, when the areas are not too extreme and show less intensively mowed ditches or margins.

Life cycle:
The eggs are deposited obviously in blades of grasses, stems of herbs and shrubs (thus they depend on little mowed areas) and overwinter. The adults appear quite early from June until autumn and are quite mobile.

Endangerment factors:
Not endangered.

Remarks:
The distribution ranges from eastern Spain across central and Eastern Europe until well into Asia (Siberia).