Medvedev's Grey Bush-cricket
Platycleis medvedevi (Miram, 1927)
Order Grasshoppers and crickets (Orthoptera)
Family Tettigoniid bush-crickets (Tettigoniidae)
Conservation status: in Bulgaria: Critically endangered CR [B1ab(iii)].
General distribution. Areas near the Danube in Bulgaria, the Black Sea coast of Romania and from the Southern Ukraine to Kazakhstan.
Distribution and abundance in Bulgaria. Found in the environs of Svishtov in the first decade of the previous century [1]. For the second time recorded 2 km northeast of Muselievo Village in the direction towards Vabel Village near Nikopol, in 2005 (unpublished data). The abundance of the population near Muselievo is low (only one specimen found after a long search in a typical habitat). The appropriate habitats, that occupied large areas in the regions of Svishtov and Nikopol one hundred years ago, are secondarily changed and preserved only in restricted areas.
Habitats. A steppe species inhabiting xerophytic herbaceous associations. The habitat near Muselievo is comparatively weakly exposed to anthropogenic pressure.
Biology. Poorly studied in the whole range of the species. Overwintering in the egg stage in the soil; six nymphal instars; occurring of adults from June to August; feeding on small invertebrates, young seeds and leaves of monocotyledonous and dicotyledonous herbaceous plants are supposed.
Similar species. Platycleis macedonica, from which it differs by its unicoloured and shorter wings.
Negative factors. Intensive animal breeding and opening of new stone quarries in the region between Nikopol and Svishtov will destroy the fragmented habitat of the species.
Conservation measures taken. Proposals for a new Protected Territory or an extension of an existing one have been made. Rejection of permissions for new quarries.
Conservation measures needed. Investigations on the abundance of the population and the area inhabited in the restricted range in Bulgaria. Ban on quarry activities in that region. Successful completion of the steps to declare a Protected Territory near Muselievo.
References. 1. Popov, 2007b.
Authors: Alexi Popov, Dragan Chobanov
