Pezotettix giornae (Rossi, 1794)

Nutrition:
Herbal food: grasses, herbs and lower deciduous shrubs

Habitat:
Pezotettix giornae inhabits higher growing margins like loose blackberry hedges, embankments, ruderal areas, forest edges, old quarries and dry grasslands with at least partly higher growing vegetation. Pezotettix giornae prefers lower elevations, but I found it in Ticino even as high as 1400 meters above sea level on the edge of a Pteridium aquilinum slope with Ephippiger persicarius (Monte Generoso).

Life cycle:
The adults are observed from July/August until winter, in the Mediterranean also until spring. The insects try to hibernate, but survive rarela on the northern edge of the distribution (Ticino). The eggs are laid from summer to spring on/in the ground.

Endangerment factors:
Pezotettix giornae is in decline in the north of the distribution through the increasing overgrowth (reforestation) of habitats, but also due to intensification. In Ticino, neophytes play a great role, as when it comes to the rapid overgrowth of old quarries, such as the butterfly bush (Buddleja davidii).

Remarks:
Pezotettix giornae is widespread in Southern Europe. The northernmost outposts lie in the Southern Alps and near Geneva.