Grasshoppers (Orthoptera: Acridoidea) of the North-West Caucasus: fauna, ecology, landscape and biotopic distribution

Abstract

Sixty one species of grasshoppers from 35  genera and 8  subfamilies are recorded for the North-West Caucasus. The features of biotopic distribution of grasshoppers are analyzed on the main types of landscapes in the region. In the Kuban  – CisAzov biogeographic province, the highest diversity of grasshoppers is characteristic of steppe biotopes with forb-grass vegetation, where 25  species are noted. The highest diversity is typical for low-mountain meadows and mountain steppes, which number 22 grasshoppers species each in the Black  Sea  – Kuban province. At the same time, these landscapes are characterized by a low value of the measure of similarity of Sørensen-Chekanovsky (0.51). Gramineous chortobionts (52%) and facultative chortobionts (16%) dominate in the fauna of the NorthWest Caucasus, the remaining life forms of grasshoppers are represented by a relatively small number of species. Among the grasshoppers, seven endemic species for the North-West Caucasus, as well as two endemic species for the whole Caucasus, are noted