First overview of Orthoptera and Mantodea of the SnijeŽnica Konavoska Mountain

Abstract

During a study conducted in 2018 on Mt Sniježnica,the faunistically understudied southernmost karst mountain in Croatia, altogether 42 orthopteran and three mantid species were recorded at 18 localities at different altitudes. Two Poecilimon taxa new to Croatian fauna were found, one of them an undescribed species from the elegans group. Three bush-cricket species, namely Leptophyes intermedia, Platycleis albopunctata grisea and Pholidoptera fallax, were recorded for the first time in the Dubrovnik region. A curious variability of male cerci length, shape and position was observed within the Pachytrachis gracilis populations in the study area. The presence of several orthopteran species of importance for nature conservation was confirmed on Mt Sniježnica.