Parasanaa

Parasanaa
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Orthoptera
Family: Tettigoniidae
Subfamily: Pseudophyllinae
Tribe: Cymatomerini
Genus: Parasanaa
Species: P. donovani
Binomial name
Parasanaa donovani
(Donovan, 1834)
Synonyms
  • Typhoptera donovani
  • Gryllus donovani
  • Capnoptera donovani

Parasanaa donovani is large bush-cricket found in India. It is the sole species in the genus Parasanaa.[1][2]

This insect has also been called Typhoptera donovani,[1] Gryllus donovani[2] and Capnoptera donovani. The species was described by Edward Donovan in 1834.[3]

Description

The adult is black with lemon-yellow patches on the thorax and tegmina.[1]

Habits

It is found throughout August on the cactus on which it feeds. It is heavy and sluggish, generally still by day, nestled among the cactus thorns, with the front legs and the long antennae stretched forward onto the plant's surface, parallel to each other. To escape predators it would rather drop from the cactus than take flight. It is more active at night, when it feeds and moves about.[1]

When the thorax is pinched, the insect squirts a slimy yellow fluid from two slits on the dorsal surface of the mesothorax, with a range of three to four inches. One aperture may discharge at first, and the other after the insect is pinched again. Some fluid also oozes out from other apertures over the body and legs, and also from the stumps of broken-off legs.[1]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 R. W. G. Hingston (1927). "The liquid-squirting habit of oriental grasshoppers". Transactions of the Entomological Society of London. 75 (1): 65–69. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2311.1927.tb00060.x.
  2. 1 2 (2013) Parasanaa donovani (Donovan 1834) from Orthoptera Species File (OSF) Online. Accessed on 2013-01-29.
  3. ↑ Donovan (1834), The Naturalist's Repository. volume 2. As cited on its entry in ZipcodeZoo.com.
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