Re-interpreting the Magdalenian cricket: did the Paleolithic rein-deer hunters engraved one of their insect delicacies?

Abstract The depiction of an Orthoptera Ensifera discovered in Enlène cave (Ariège, France) in 1928 has long been interpreted as a Troglophilus sp., i.e. a representation of a cave-dwelling orthoptera species. We here propose another interpretation based on the knowledge of the contemporary community of bush- and cave-cricket species, and their morphological and ecological traits. We rather suggest that this engraved Orthoptera may represent a bush-cricket species ( Polysarcus spp.) and propose arguments supporting the hypothesis that it may represent a bush-cricket that could have been part of their diet.