Distribution of Platycleis grisea Fabricius, 1781 (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae) in Poland

Abstract

Platycleis grisea is a bush-cricket species distributed on the southern side of the Alps and in Eastern Europe. In Western and Northern Europe P. grisea is replaced by its sister species P. albopunctata, the border between the two taxa in Eastern Europe is unknown. Platycleis grisea and P. albopunctata differ in the shape of the female subgenital plate and the male reproductive organs: titillators, however the differences are vague, and their systemic status is unclear. Historical localities of P. grisea in Poland are Middle Pieniny in the Carpathians and the Ojców National Park in the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland, more recently it was also recorded from the Wdżar Mountain in the Gorce mountains. In this study P. grisea is reported from four new localities and the morphology of Platycleis from the Carpathians, and the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland is presented. Subgenital plate morphology turns out to be variable, and thus not a reliable trait. Titillators of Platycleis from the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland do not match P. grisea, and titillators of Platycleis from the Carpathians clearly match P. grisea morphology. I conclude that in Poland P. grisea is restricted to the Carpathians and thus the historical record from the Kraków-Częstochowa Upland must considered erroneous.