Leptophyes punctatissima (Bosc, 1792)

Holuša, Jaroslav, Kočárek, Petr, Vlk, Robert & Marhoul, Pavel, 2013, Annotated checklist of the grasshoppers and crickets (Orthoptera) of the Czech Republic, Zootaxa 3616 (5), pp. 437-460 : 440-441

Leptophyes punctatissima (Bosc, 1792)

Material examined. Bohemia centr., Praha, NM Baba, 23.vii.2008, 2 M, 2 F, 22.viii.2011, 1 M; Praha, NM Podbabské skály, 7.vii.2009, 1 M, P.; Praha, NM Ctirad, 12.vii.2009, 1 M, all P. Marhoul, leg., det. et coll.; Praha, Apolinářská ulice street, 6.x.2010, 1 ex., O. Balvín, leg., det. et. coll.; Praha, Bohnické údolí NM, 7.viii.2012, 1 M, P. Marhoul, leg., det. et coll.; Moravia mer., Brno—Wilsonův les forest, 5.ix.2012, 1 F, 1 M, R. Vlk leg., det. et coll.

An originally European species that was introduced into the U.S.A. In Europe, it represents an Atlantic faunistic element distributed from southern Scandinavia, through the British Isles and Western Europe, including France and northern Spain, to northern Italy and the Balkan Peninsula (Chobanov 2003; Kočárek et al. 2005). The occurrence of L. punctatissima in eastern central Europe is concentrated mostly in urban areas, and its distribution is probably connected with its importation on ornamental plants (Harz 1957 and Detzel 1998 in Zuna-Kratky et al. 2009).

Nymphs inhabit herbaceous and bush layers, and adults are considered to be inhabitants of bushes and trees, but it is possible to find adults on taller herbaceous plants. This species lives first along habitat edges like forest margins but also in open deciduous woodlands, open orchards, and tall herbage. In urban areas, it is found in parks, gardens, and terraces with rich greenery (Zuna-Kratky et al. 2009).

From the CR, only findings from Prague (Čejchan 1988; as noted earlier in this report) and Brno (Chládek 2002; as noted earlier in this report) are known. They probably represent only local populations that developed from distant introductions.