By
Robert E. Pfadt
Modified from the Second Edition, Wyoming Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin 912, September 1994 for electronic publication
by
Spencer Schell
Scott Schell
Because new employees often need instruction on grasshopper structure, life history, behavior, and ecology, an introduction covering these subjects was also proposed. The project originally was estimated to be completed in two years but it was soon realized that more time was needed. The first species chosen were common, abundant ones inhabiting sites close to Laramie. As fact sheets on these species were completed, sites farther from Laramie chosen for other common grasshoppers entailed more travel time and left less time for productive work. The paucity of published information on the less researched species and less unpublished data in files of the author required first-hand laboratory and field observations. Another problem encountered was the low densities of certain otherwise common species over the last five years, making observation and collection of live specimens more difficult. In spite of these impediments the publication of two new fact sheets in 1994 brings the total number of species treated to 39. We are gathering data and photographing additional species in the summer of 1994. Completion of fact sheets on these will bring the total number to 50.
The need for additional copies of the Field Guide to Common Western Grasshoppers for inclusion in the User Handbook of the Grasshopper Integrated Management Project has provided the opportunity to revise and to add new subjects to the introductory bulletin. These subjects include the following:
Allory Deiss, graphic
artist
Elizabeth A. Donahue,
graphic artist
Dana Lynn Dreinhofer,
publications editor
Kim Gould, publications
editor
Kirsten Keeton, graphic
artist
Herbert D. Pownall,
photographer
Elizabeth Ono Rahel,
graphic artist
Karen D. Singer, typist
Carol L. Stevens,
graphic artist
William L. Stump,
artist
Ellyn Sturgeon, word
processor
I gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Shanna Breeding, Mark Carter, Donald Hostetter, Boris Kondratieff, John Larsen, Tim McNary, Bill Elliott, Bruce Shambaugh, Robert Stuckey, and David Weissman in locating species of grasshoppers and providing specimens, and the help of Burrell E. Nelson of the Rocky Mountain Herbarium in identifying plants.
I also wish to acknowledge the peer review of the manuscript by my colleagues Jeffrey C. Burne, E.W. Evans, Robert J. Lavigne, Jeffrey A. Lockwood, and Bruce Shambaugh.
Funding for the publication of the Field Guide to Common Western Grasshoppers was provided through a grant to the University of Wyoming from the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS)/Grasshopper Integrated Pest Management Project. The university and author gratefully acknowledge the support of APHIS, which made this publication possible.
College of Agriculture • The University of Wyoming
Steve W. Horn, Director, Agricultural Experiment Station, University of Wyoming, Laramie 82071.
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There are several reasons why it is necessary to correctly identify species. (1) Species vary in their biotic potential and in their capacity for causing damage. (2) Depending on their food habits, species may be either pests or beneficials. (3) Certain species of pest grasshoppers are highly migratory and often pose a serious threat to distant crops. (4) Species vary in their seasonal cycle (period of hatching, development, and reproduction), which in turn affects the timing of control treatments. (5) Because current chemical and biological methods of controlling grasshoppers are more sophisticated, their effective use requires greater knowledge of the pests' life histories and habits. (6) As environmental impacts of control are more finely evaluated, recognition of pest species of grasshoppers has become essential in the selection of management strategies.
The purpose of this manual is to provide a pictorial guide that will allow plant protection personnel to make grasshopper identifications in the field. Although the surest method for obtaining an accurate identification is submission of the specimen to a specialist, this procedure is not feasible during an expeditious grasshopper survey. To achieve the requisite efficiency in making a useful survey, the scout must be able to identify, and in a short time learn to recognize on sight, the common species inhabiting the infested area.
Grasshoppers are relatively large insects with quite distinct appearances. Diverse traits permit one to identify a specimen of an unknown species by comparing it with identified museum specimens. One may also identify the specimen by comparing it with good color pictures. When accompanied by illustrations and descriptions of distinguishing characters and their variations, color pictures are probably the best means of accurate identification of an unknown specimen (short of submitting it to a specialist).
This Field Guide to Common Western Grasshoppers provides the scout with color pictures of the nymphs, adult male, and female, and illustrations and descriptions of distinguishing characters allowing comparisons with unknown specimens that need identification. The guide also contains distribution maps of species, brief accounts of their seasonal cycles, feeding and reproductive behavior, and habitat preferences. All may serve as additional clues to the identities of specimens as well as provide pertinent information for grasshopper management.
Figure 1. Diagram of a female grasshopper showing characteristic external features. Modeled after Melanoplus bivittatus (Say).
Further segregation
places them in the class Insecta, the insects. They have three body regions
(the head, thorax, and abdomen) and possess a tracheal system for breathing,
three pairs of legs, and two pairs of wings. Within the Insecta, grasshoppers
belong to the order Orthoptera, as they grow and develop by gradual metamorphosis
(eggs-nymphs-adults), and they have chewing mouthparts and leathery forewings
called tegmina. Grasshoppers may next be placed in the family Acrididae
because they possess short antennae and ovipositor (egg-layer), an auditory
organ (tympanum visible externally) on each side of the first abdominal
segment, and three-segmented tarsi (feet). See Table 1 summarizing the
affiliation of the Carolina grasshopper, Dissosteira carolina (Linnaeus).
| CATEGORY | TAXON | CHARACTERISTICS |
|---|---|---|
| Kingdom | Animalia | Sensitivity, voluntary movement, require oxygen and organic food, fixed organs. |
| Phylum | Arthropoda | Ringlike segments, jointed appendages, exoskeleton. |
| Class | Insecta | Three body regions, three pairs legs, one pair antennae, tracheal system, usually two pair wings. |
| Order | Orthoptera | Forewings leathery, hindwings membranous, chewing mouthparts, hindlegs enlarged for jumping, simple metamorphosis. |
| Family | Acrididae | Short antennae, short ovipositor, tympanum on first abdominal tergum, three segmented tarsi. |
| Genus | Dissosteira | High median pronotal crest deeply cut by one sulcus, body slender, medium to large size. |
| species | carolina | Hindwings black with yellow margin; tegmina unicolorous or faintly spotted. |
For placing grasshoppers in lower categories of classification, that is, in genus and species, one must resort to finer structures of their external anatomy and also to body size, shape, color, stripes, and patterns. Anatomical structures often have special names that the scout must learn in order to understand the descriptions of species in this guide.
In addition to the scientific name, species of grasshoppers may have good common names. Some are approved by the Entomological Society of America, such as the Carolina grasshopper for D. carolina. Nevertheless, in searching the literature and in communicating information on species of grasshoppers, the scientific name has an unrivaled advantage. All of the known species have scientific names while only a small fraction have generally accepted common names.
The scientific name of a species consists of two parts. The first is the name of the genus, a taxonomic category containing a group of closely related species. The second part is the specific epithet or species name. For example, Dissosteira is the name of the grasshopper genus that contains four species; carolina is the specific epithet of one of the four species. The two words together, Dissosteiracarolina, comprise the scientific name of the Carolina grasshopper. After the two words the name of the describer, Linnaeus, provides extra information. Linnaeus' name is in parenthesis, which means that originally Linnaeus had placed this species in a different genus (Gryllus) and another taxonomist later revised the scientific name by placing the species in a new or different genus. A describer who has assigned a newly described species to an established genus is not named in parentheses, for example Melanoplus confusus Scudder.
The scientific name is always italicized. After it has been written in full once, it is usually abbreviated by using the initial of the genus, followed by the full spelling of the epithet, and the dropping of the describer's name, hence D. carolina. The first letter of the genus name is always capitalized and the first letter of the specific epithet is always lower case. The genus name may be used alone when referring to the genus only or to all of the species making up the genus such as Dissosteira or Melanoplus.
How do taxonomists choose a scientific name for a species new to science? Rules of Latin grammar must be followed but otherwise there is much latitude in selecting a name. If the new species can be assigned to a valid genus, a specific epithet not already in use within the genus is chosen. The name may describe a character of the grasshopper or locate the region or state where it was collected. Or it may honor a friend or a renowned scientist. For example, in a taxonomic study published in 1897, Samuel Scudder named a new species Melanoplus bruneri in honor of professor Lawrence Bruner, a pioneer grasshopper specialist at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln. To be a valid scientific name, the author must publish the description and name of a new species in a journal article, bulletin, or book.
As a finishing touch in establishing the authenticity of a new species, the describer chooses a particular specimen as the type or holotype. In the taxonomy of grasshoppers, the type selected by the author is an adult male from which the original description and illustrations were made. A female specimen is also chosen for description and illustration and is specified as the allotype. The author uses other specimens, termed material, for comparison with the types, often describing slight differences in size and color. These may be designated as paratypes, both males and females.
The taxonomist must also decide on the deposition of the types in an insect museum. If the author is a member of the staff of a particular museum, the types are usually deposited with that museum. In cases where the author is not employed by a museum, the types are sent to a recognized museum. Many grasshopper types are held in the extensive collections of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, the California Academy of Sciences (San Francisco), the Museum of Zoology, University of Michigan (Ann Arbor), the Lyman Entomological Museum (Ste. Anne de Bellevue, Quebec), and the National Museum of Natural History (Washington, DC). These are favored museums for the deposition of grasshopper types. The author may send the types to one museum and paratypes to the others and, if there is sufficient material, still other specimens to smaller museums.
Although the grasshopper fauna of North America is relatively well known, new species continue to be found in all parts of the continent and to be described in entomological publications. The chance is slim, however, that a scout will pick up a new species where grasshopper infestations occur. In most instances the scout will be able to identify a specimen from the pages of this field guide. On occasion a scout may collect an already described species not treated in the guide, particularly in genera with large numbers of species such as Melanoplus and Trimerotropis. The scout may then resort to a state grasshopper "key" (see Selected References).
Grass-feeding species
of grasshoppers are the most numerous in grasslands. In a northern mixedgrass
prairie site 18 miles northwest of Fort Collins, Colorado, a total of 24
species were recorded during an outbreak in 1981 (Table 2). Of the total,
14 were grass feeders, six were mixed feeders, and four were forb feeders.
The number of individuals of grass-feeding species made up 85% of the total
population. The dominant grasshopper, Ageneotettix deorum (Scudder),
contributed 52% of the population. A second example of an outbreak population
in northern mixedgrass prairie was the assemblage inhabiting a site 15
miles north of Hartville, Wyoming, where 16 species were recorded (Table
2). Nine species were grass feeders, one a mixed feeder, and six were forb
feeders. The number of individuals of grass feeding species made up 89%
of the population. The dominant grasshopper, Aulocara elliotti (Thomas),
contributed 74% of the population.
| NUMBER/SQ YD | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Mixedgrass
Colorado |
Mixedgrass
Wyoming |
Desert grass
Arizona |
|
| Gomphocerinae | |||
| Aeropedellus clavatus |
|
|
- |