For today's 'Species Spotlight' I have decided to cheat a bit, because I have been unable to identify the species in question, so all I can say at this point is that it is a Grasshopper, which means that it is an insect in the Order Orthoptera and the Family Acrididae.
The little fellow below flew into my small front garden this afternoon, and landed just in front of me on a dry grass stalk.
I am not an expert on grasshoppers or crickets (although I did learn to identify a few common ones long ago in a different part of the country), but I was able to say straight away that this creature was in the Order Orthoptera, which includes Bush-crickets, true Crickets, Mole Crickets, Ground-hoppers and Grasshoppers. True Crickets are only represented by two species in the UK which are both quite uncommon and only likely to be seen in the south of England. Mole Crickets are unearthly looking things about 4 cm long (1.5 inches) with big shovel shaped front legs and small back legs meaning that they are adapted to burrowing rather than jumping (hence the name). Ground-hoppers look similar to grasshoppers but they are fairly inconspicuous, mostly dark brown or grey and don't sing like grasshoppers. Both Grasshoppers and Ground-hoppers have a shield-like structure called a pronotum on the top of the body behind the head, but in Ground-hoppers it extends right back to the end of the body or beyond. Of all the Orthopterans, Bush-crickets look most like Grasshoppers - the most obvious difference is in the antennae (the two feelers protruding from the front of the head). In Bush-crickets (and also true Crickets) these are long and flexible and extend back along the body most of the time. Grasshoppers have shorter, thicker antennae, which usually stick forward.
Looking at the photos above we can see that this chap has large hind-legs, skinny little front legs, a short pronotum, and short, rigid-looking, forward-pointing antennae, which tells us that this is a Grasshopper. What exact species it is, I am still waiting to find out (from an expert that I have contacted), although from looking at my book I think it is most likely to be a long-winged form of the Meadow Grasshopper (Pseudochorthippus paralellus). However, I am very much a beginner in grasshopper identification so I may very well be wrong and I will attach a postscript on this post if I ever find out what it is.
POSTSCRIPT - The expert got back to me after a few days and confirmed my suspicion that this is a Meadow Grasshopper
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