Species Account for Myrmeleotettix maculatus

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Essex RDB: Listed
Threat: Essex Vulnerable

Records: 129

First Record: 1976

Latest Record: 2023

1992-on hectads: 10

Pre-1992 hectads: 3

Total hectads: 10

Additional Phenology Data

Images

Myrmeleotettix maculatus (Mottled Grasshopper)

Myrmeleotettix maculatus

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Essex Red Data List comment
A wide distribution over Great Britain and Ireland occurring to the far north of Scotland and the Western Isles. However in Essex it is a rare insect with key habitat sites at a premium. Just eight 1km records since 1980 spread in six 10km squares. Two further very old 10km records. This species appears to require lichen heathland, thin grassland or old and grassed over quarry sites, etc.

Species text
Although the Mottled Grasshopper is widespread in much of Britain, in Essex it is very rare. The species requires a maximum amount of sun in dry localities and is found in short turf with much bare ground over sand, chalk or limestone, typically on the steep banks. In Essex it occurs in very few localities, the main ones being at Colne Point (where it is numerous) and Middlewick Ranges, Colchester. It appears to have been lost from Epping Forest where it had been recorded from an area of heathland. A location identified in 1995 at Mill Wood Pit in Thurrock has been almost completely lost to large-scale housing development, with the species is still present on a section of railway embankment (A. Knowles, pers. comm.). One population has recently been identified in a small area of Tiptree Heath. References

Habitats

Recorded management for locations with Myrmeleotettix maculatus

Recorded substrate and hydrology for locations with Myrmeleotettix maculatus

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Interpretation of distribution maps