Prick your ears on a summer night, and you will no doubt come across the rustling, ticking, or chirping sound of a grasshopper or cricket nearby. Collectively, this group of insects, which includes grasshoppers, crickets, and bush-crickets, is known as Orthoptera.

Europe is home to 1,082 species in this group, of which 25.7% were assessed in 2016 as threatened [1]. They play a crucial role in food webs, serving as a food source for both vertebrates and invertebrates, and acting as indicator species because they are sensitive to environmental changes [2].

The European Red List has identified 231 of the 739 European species as threatened [1]. This list highlights the important responsibility European countries have to protect endemic Orthoptera – species that only occur here. They state that the main threat to European Orthoptera is agricultural land use intensification, which leads to habitat loss. Other threats to Orthoptera include larger wildfires, urbanisation and infrastructure development, and climate change.

Greece is considered a biodiversity hotspot for Orthoptera, hosting over one-third of all Orthoptera found in Europe [2]. The Epirus dancing grasshopper is one of 378 species of Orthoptera that live in Greece [3].

Found in the wet grasslands of the mountains of Epirus in the north of Greece, research shows [3] that it is threatened with extinction due to land use change, intensive agriculture, urbanisation and land abandonment. The population size and distribution of the grasshopper has declined drastically in recent years. Between 2004 and 2016, there was a 92% reduction in its local population size, caused by rubble deposition from the development of a nearby tourist area. Overall, its habitat area has decreased by 85-99% in the last 50 years.

This month, I attended the TEOSS international summer school on Orthoptera bioacoustics. In the midday heat in Epirus, I had the chance to witness the captivating courtship ritual of this endangered grasshopper:

“Arm touches knee, belly touches ground, ears listen out, waiting for a sound. Legs bend all the way round; we play Twister just to have a glance at the infamous dance. Breaths are held, and eyes, cameras, and recorders are held steady, at the ready. Suddenly, subtle yet excitable gestures from two Italian biologists draw all eyes to the scene, for those not already stuck in a trance. There, between the blades, two grasshoppers move to and fro, executing a spectacular show. They twirl around the stems, nature’s pole dance, spiralling like a couple in a ballroom prance. The male approaches and, in a gravity-defying swing, kicks his hind legs out, hoping to fit a ring. Repeatedly, the Epirus dancing grasshopper (Chorthippus lacustris) performs this slow-motion levitating trick. In a nick, he retreats, as another expectant candidate puts on a showcase. But there is no luck for them today, and unimpressed, the female backs away, turning her face”.

This captivating performance is more than just a spectacle—it’s part of a fragile survival story. The researchers from the University of Ioannina and scientific staff from the Management Unit of the Protected Areas of Epirus [3] are working on mapping the species’ locations and managing its conservation. They do this by mowing the wet grasslands under a carefully monitored management plan.

Mowing helps to prevent shrub encroachment – a significant threat to grassland habitat. Other recommended management actions to prevent shrub encroachment include extensive grazing by goats or increasing populations of wild herbivores in some areas [2]. Habitat restoration through rubble removal or increasing implementation of sustainable agriculture practices would support the maintenance of wet grassland habitats so vital to the survival of the Epirus dancing grasshoppers [3].

Protecting these habitats also depends on knowing where species live and how they sound. Of the 378 Orthoptera species found in Greece, 257 produce a song. Additionally, songs are highly species-specific, making them a valuable tool for species identification [4]. Knowing which species are found where helps us concentrate conservation efforts. During the TEOSS training, we used a variety of sound recorders to capture their unique songs. These recordings were uploaded to xeno-canto.org, an online repository for animal sounds, where they contribute to a growing database used to train deep learning models for identifying Orthoptera.

Orthoptera produce songs mostly by stridulation, which means they open and close their wings or rub their hind legs against the wings (depending on the species), to move a plectrum across a stridulatory file [4]. Not all calls can be heard by the human ear – most people lose the ability to hear frequencies above 20 kHz after the age of 40-50 years [4]. Therefore, we used ultrasonic sound recorders to capture sounds beyond the audible range – Orthoptera can make sounds up to 150 kHz. To not only hear the individual, but also know its name meant teamwork at the summer school with our knowledgeable tutors. 

“There, what is that?” I asked on more than one occasion. 

“What now?” came the response. “I don’t hear it.” This was followed by a spluttering reensoundment on my part, to which a potential species name came tumbling back from the tutors in response.

Figure 1: The Epirus dancing grasshoppers. Photo Courtesy of Marco Ferrante. Epirus, July 2025.