The species niedermoschelensis sp. nov. (Nosipteron niedermoschelensis gen. and sp. nov. under Linnaean nomenclature) is described on the basis of a single fossil specimen from the the Permo-Carboniferous deposits of Niedermoschel, Saar-Nahe Basin, Germany. The species is assigned to the higher taxon Archaeorthoptera (including among others, orthopterans and some stem orthopterans). The forewing morphology of the species suggests close relationships with lobeattid insects, a group widely represented during the Late Carboniferous, and one for which the monophyly is uncertain. The occurrence of niedermoschelensis sp. nov. near the Gzhelian/Asselian boundary constitutes the latest record of this group (assuming that it is monophyletic). In addition the new species exhibits a new combination of character states, including a comparatively long free part of CuA.

Oreophoetes topoense n. sp. from Ecuador, Tungurahua Province, Rio Topo is described and illustrated for both sexes; eggs are described. It differs from all other species in the genus Oreophoetes Rehn, 1904, by a striking coloration and by morphological features of the insects' genitalia and eggs. Keys are provided to distinguish the four known species of Oreophoetes Rehn, 1904. The holotype of Oreophoetes topoense n. sp. is deposited in the State Zoological Collections Munich, Germany (ZSMC), paratypes in ZSMC and the private collections of the two first authors (coll. OC and coll. FH).

Praying mantids determine prey-capture distances with the aid of binocular mechanisms and estimate distances to stationary objects such as jump targets with the aid of retinal image velocity. The latter mechanism makes use of the fact that the retinal image velocity resulting from translational self-motion (peering movements) is inversely proportional to the distance of the target object. The present study shows that for South African mantids Polyspilota sp., the interocular distance, an aspect of binocular vision, and the amplitude and velocity of peering movements, increase over the course of postembryonic development from 2^nd instar to adult. In both cases there is a close positive correlation with body size. Calculated convergence angles and retinal image velocities indicate an improvement in absolute depth perception with increased body size. This is adaptive, because it allows the range of visual depth perception to increase with body size, strike distance and jumping capability, throughout the growth of the insect, from 2^nd instar to adult.

Grasshoppers are ecologically significant because many animals consume them as a major protein source and thus any change in their population dynamics may have detrimental effects on an ecosystem. This study evaluates effects of mercury (Hg² ) on the developmental periods of different instars of a common short-horned grasshopper, Oxya fuscovittata (Marschall). Newly hatched nymphs were fed foods treated with three sublethal concentrations of HgCl₂ i.e., dose 1 (d1): 20 mg HgCl₂/ kg dry weight in oats, dose 2 (d2): 40 mg HgCl₂/ kg dry weight in oats, and dose 3 (d3): 80 mg HgCl₂/ kg dry weight in oats, until they reached the adult stage. The experiment was conducted for two consecutive generations (F1 and F2), tested in the same way for the same variables, in order to observe if there is any additional adversity in the latter generation. As HgCl₂ concentrations in food increased, the Total Rearing Time (TRT) for each instar significantly increased, whereas survival, adult body weight and adult life span significantly decreased. The results for the F2 generation almost always showed more severe effects than those of the F1 generation.

A new species of the genus Acinipe (Rambur, 1838) is described from Catalonia (in the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula). Acinipe eulaliae n. sp. was collected in an intact calcicolous rosemary scrub dominated by rosemary (Rosamarinus officinalis). A. eulaliae n. sp. is characterized by the rounded shape of its fastigium, concave in contact with the vertex, and by a penis that is slender and directed upwards. This new species is compared to the similar species A. deceptoria (Bolívar, 1878) and A. segurensis (Bolívar, 1908).

The elaborate courtship behavior of the gomphocerine grasshopper Stenobothrus clavatus, endemic to a few mountains in Greece, incorporates acoustic signalling and visual display elements to prime the conspecific female. The courtship song, produced by rubbing hind legs against an elytral vein, can be divided into four consecutive phases. The basic movements of phases I, II and IV consist of simple up and interrupted downstrokes, with sound produced during the downstroke only. In contrast, phase III is characterized by a fast sound-producing elevation of the femora, a kick of the tibiae and other visual display elements, such as a fast raising of the antennae with their dark spatulate tips during each movement cycle. The latter is strongly pronounced and therefore a characteristic feature of this species.

The stridulatory file of each hind leg consists of two parts. The proximal part bears a double row of little pegs, whereas the pegs in the distal part are regularly aligned in a single row. The proximal part of the stridulatory file is incorporated in sound production only during phase III. However, frequency spectra from different sound elements produced during phase III were similar. Nevertheless, differences are found between phase I/II and phase III/IV, which are ascribed to variations in contact pressure of the stridulatory file against the forewing, rather than to different portions of the stridulatory file being involved.

A list of the Caelifera (Tetrigoidea, Eumastacoidea, and Acridoidea) of Mt Kilimanjaro is presented. A total number of 139 Caelifera was recorded for this mountain, of which 8 species belonged to Tetrigidae, 5 to Eumastacoidea and 126 to Acridoidea. Of the 126 Acridoidea, 2 species belonged to the family Pamphagidae, 14 to the family Pyrgomorphidae, and 3 to the family Lentulidae. The family Acrididae is comprised of 107 species; only one species was recorded for the subfamilies Spathosterninae, Oxyinae, and Euryphyminae, two species within Tropidopolinae, 4 species within Coptacridinae, 5 species each within Hemiacridinae and Calliptaminae, and 7 species each in Eyprepocnemidinae and Cyrtacanthacridinae. The majority of species were found within the four subfamilies Gomphocerinae and Catantopinae (each 14 species), Acridinae (21 species), and Oedipodinae (25 species). Mt Kilimanjaro harbors about 25% of the Acridomorpha species recorded for Tanzania. Together with Mt Meru, with which Kilimanjaro is connected by a ridge at submontane level, 9.4% of the Caelifera are endemics.

Discrepancies in scale dynamics often make cohesive structural conclusions difficult, especially when dealing with ecological variance. We studied presence and abundance of grasshopper species in similar, yet distinct, montane habitat of southeast Wyoming and northern Colorado, USA. By limiting ecological variance, grasshopper species structure at two behavioral scales (grouped species dynamics and individual species interactions) was maximized with regard to soil texture and vegetative canopy coverage. Combining univariate and multivariate statistical methods, we note montane grasshopper species interactions to be scale dependent.

Four katydid species are treated taxonomically and/or acoustically. Two new species of Ecuaneduba are described from Colombia: E. gambitaensis sp. nov. and E. inzaensis sp. nov. A closely related new species from Ecuador is placed in a new cognate genus: Acanthoraculus milagro gen. et sp. nov.; its call is analysed and also the calls of Ecuaneduba aequatorialis. Since these genera, Ecuaneduba and Acanthoraculus, comprise at present the only New World representatives of the subfamily Hexacentrinae, we include them in their own tribe Ecuanedubini. A similar situation exists for a small group of Mecopodinae, for which the tribe Tabariini is proposed. Pronotal shapes, subnotal and subtegminal spaces — adapted for sound generation — are diverse in these four taxa; costal fields may function as acoustic baffles that reduce short-circuiting.

Swimming behavior of the meadow grasshopper Chorthippus parallelus (Orthoptera: Acrididae) was observed in an acid pool on Sunshine Plain in Epping Forest, UK. To quantify the success or otherwise of attempts at swimming by grasshoppers, I spent 2 h watching C. parallelus nymphs on 7 June 2009. Early-instar nymphs of C. parallelus were observed to commonly use their hind legs in a kicking motion to swim in the surface film of the pool. These nymphs managed to reach the edge of the pool, whereas two late-instar nymphs (probably 3–4) after becoming submerged for more than 3 min, did not manage to exit the pool. Various escape strategies were used by late-instar nymphs that became submerged, including an underwater ‘hop’ and climbing up rush (Juncus) stems.