First natural history observations of the canyon pygmy mole cricket, Ellipes monticolus (Orthoptera: Tridactylidae)

Brandon Woo

doi:10.3897/jor.29.33413

Abstract

The first live photos of the canyon pygmy mole cricket, Ellipes monticolus Günther, are presented, with preliminary observations on the habitat and behavior of populations in the Chiricahua Mountains of southeastern Arizona. The species was previously known solely from the original description in 1977, which included only drawings of the structure of the genitalia and almost no natural history information. This paper provides the first look at this species’ biology and provides a framework for future studies on Tridactylidae of the southwestern United States.

Highlights

The Chiricahua Mountains of southeastern Arizona, USA, are well known as part of the Madrean Pine-Oak Woodlands biodiversity hotspot (Mittermeier et al 2004)
The observations of E. monticolus presented here are generally in line with what is already known about tridactylid biology
It appears to be restricted to waterways within canyons, and in southeastern Arizona is presumably restricted to the Madrean Sky Islands

Summary

Introduction

The Chiricahua Mountains of southeastern Arizona, USA, are well known as part of the Madrean Pine-Oak Woodlands biodiversity hotspot (Mittermeier et al 2004). About 80 species of mammals and 400 birds (Brown and Peters 2014) are known from the area. Add to this the 619 species of native plants that occur in Chiricahua National Monument (McLaughlin 1994), and you start to get an idea of the incredible biological diversity of the region. The diversity of insect species is even higher This biodiversity is due to the confluence of several factors: the varied elevations from 1097 m to 2975 m and resulting weather and habitat conditions at those elevations, the Chiricahuas’ position at the edges of both the Sonoran and Chihuahuan deserts, and the intrusion of both Nearctic species from the USA and Neotropical species from Mexico (Brown and Peters 2014). The grasshopper Melanoplus chiricahuae Hebard, 1922 and the camel cricket Ceuthophilus chiricahuae Hubbell, 1936 are endemic to the Chiricahuas (Hebard 1922, Hubbell 1936)

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