First steps in Orthoptera's research

Over the last 5 years or so, I've chosen to develop more applied research that's less dependent on remote locations. This choice is obviously linked to the climate and biodiversity crisis. As part of this, I've been getting closer to local conservation players through my naturalist activities. In 2020, I obtained a small grant from the INPN/OFB "Contribution à la connaissance naturaliste" which enabled me to really take the plunge and launch into these new research activities.

This has materilized in two research publications (in a French Journal) on clarification of the taxonomic status and morpometric study of Decticus verrucivorus (Ton et al. 2023) and on the alarming decline of an endangered orthopteran: Arcyptera brevipennis vicheti (Février et al. 2023). I also contributed to a study on Aiolopus puissanti (Pélissié et al. 2023).

Finally, I tried to understand what was the cause of the lack on mitochondrial resolution in the Gomphecerripus biguttulus complex (aka, Chorthippus) (Nabholz 2023).

I hope to continue this research on insects and local biodiversity in the future!

REFERENCES : 

• Jérémie Février, Benoit Nabholz, Louis Ton. 2023. Synthèse des données et probabilité de détection de l’Arcyptère languedocienne, Arcyptera brevipennis vicheti (Brunner von Wattenwyl, 1861), en France (Orthoptera, Acrididae). Matériaux orthoptériques et entomocénotiques. Matériaux orthoptériques et entomocénotiques. 28 : 31-43

• Louis Ton, Didier Morin, Antoine Foucart, Jean-Michel Catil, Benoit Nabholz. 2023.  Le Dectique verrucivore, Decticus verrucivorus (Linnaeus, 1758), en France continentale : étude morphologique et implications taxonomiques (Orthoptera : Tettigoniidae). Matériaux orthoptériques et entomocénotiques. Matériaux orthoptériques et entomocénotiques. 28 : 45-68

• Nabholz B. 2023. Incomplete lineage sorting explains the low performance of DNA barcoding in a radiation of four species of Western European grasshoppers (Orthoptera: Acrididae: Chorthippus). Biological Journal of the Linnean Society:blad106. [full text]

• Pélissié M, Nabholz B, Labadessa R, Ancillotto L. 2023. Hidden in plain sight: unveiling the distributions of green-winged grasshoppers (Aiolopus spp.) with citizen-science data. Journal of Zoology 320:301–307.