Cuticular hydrocarbons as a tool supporting recognition of Gryllotalpa tali and G. marismortui (Orthoptera : Gryllotalpidae) as distinct species in Israel

Museum specimens of two species of mole crickets, Gryllotalpa tali Broza an d Gryllotalpa marismortui Broza, from Israel were washed with pentane to re move cuticular hydrocarbons still remaining on the cuticle. The hydrocarbon s were separated by gas chromatography into 116 peaks. The two species qual itatively had the same hydrocarbon compounds on the cuticle, but there were consistent quantitative differences in amounts of the different hydrocarbo ns. Canonical discrimination analysis separated G. marismortui, which lives at the edge of springs near the shoreline of the Dead Sea from G. tali. Th e G. tali crickets were collected from different regions of Israel, and clu stered into three separate groups. One group was composed of individuals fr om type locality and adjacent places in northern Israel. The second group w as composed of individuals from a population within Jericho and East Jerusa lem; this population geographically borders the Dead Sea the habitat of G. marismortui. The third group was from the red sand (Orto-Hamra) soil habita t south of Haifa. The proportion of hydrocarbon chains n-C27 + n-C28 in G. marismortui may serve as a taxonomic marker to distinguish this species fro m G. tali. Hydrocarbon analysis is a useful tool that supports morphologica l, chromosomal and male song analysis in the division of this Gryllotalpa c omplex into two species.