grasshopper
Grasshoppers are a group of insects belonging to the suborder Caelifera. They are among what is possibly the most ancient living group of chewing herbivorous insects, dating back to the early Triassic around 250 million years ago.
Grasshopp ...
in the family
Romaleidae
The Romaleidae or lubber grasshoppers are a family of grasshoppers, based on the type genus ''Romalea''. The species in this family can be found in the Americas.
Tribes and selected genera
The Orthoptera Species File Online database lists two s ...
.Orthoptera Species File /ref>Catalogue of life /ref> They are among the largest grasshoppers in the world by length and wingspan, reaching up to and respectively. They are variably colored in green, brown, black, reddish or yellowish, and have wings that usually are conspicuously blue (''T. collaris'' and ''T. descampsi'') or red (''T. cristatus'') in flight. The gregarious and flightless nymphs have bright aposematic colors and are presumed to be toxic; a researcher who tasted one noted that it was very bitter, similar to a
monarch butterfly
The monarch butterfly or simply monarch (''Danaus plexippus'') is a milkweed butterfly (subfamily Danainae) in the family Nymphalidae. Other common names, depending on region, include milkweed, common tiger, wanderer, and black-veined brown. It ...
.
These locally abundant grasshoppers inhabit a wide range of habitats, from
rainforest
Rainforests are characterized by a closed and continuous tree canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforest can be classified as tropical rainforest or temperate rainfores ...
s to dry open areas and lowlands to highlands. Both adults and nymphs feed on many types of plants and decaying matter, and (especially ''A. collaris'') are sometimes regarded as
pests
PESTS was an anonymous American activist group formed in 1986 to critique racism, tokenism, and exclusion in the art world. PESTS produced newsletters, posters, and other print material highlighting examples of discrimination in gallery represent ...
because of the considerable damage they may cause to agricultural crops, tree plantations and ornamental plants.
Taxonomy
''Tropidacris'' and the closely related ''
Titanacris
''Titanacris'' is a genus of large grasshoppers in the subfamily Romaleinae and tribe Tropidacrini. They are found from southeastern Mexico, through Central and South America, ranging south to northernmost Argentina.
Adult males are generally l ...
'' form the tribe
Tropidacrini
Romaleinae is a subfamily of lubber grasshoppers in the family Romaleidae, found in North and South America. More than 60 genera and 260 described species are placed in the Romaleinae.
Tribes and genera
These tribes and genera belong to the subf ...
, but the latter genus, which generally is restricted to forest canopies of South and Central America, is not as well known. Unlike ''Tropidacris'', adult ''Titanacris'' are always mostly green (only some ''Tropidacris'' are mostly green) and have colorful wings that lack dark rear edge and spotting.
There are three recognized species in the genus ''Tropidacris'':
*'' Tropidacris collaris'' (Stoll, 1813) – blue-winged grasshopper or violet-winged grasshopper
*'' Tropidacris cristata'' (Linnaeus, 1758) – giant red-winged grasshopper
*'' Tropidacris descampsi'' Carbonell, 1986
Several additional species have been described, but these are now regarded as
synonyms
A synonym is a word, morpheme, or phrase that means exactly or nearly the same as another word, morpheme, or phrase in a given language. For example, in the English language, the words ''begin'', ''start'', ''commence'', and ''initiate'' are all ...
of the widespread and well-known ''T. collaris'' or ''T. cristata''. ''T. descampsi'' is poorly known with only a few confirmed specimens from the
Colombian Amazon
Amazonía region in southern Colombia comprises the departments of Amazonas, Caquetá, Guainía, Guaviare, Putumayo and Vaupés, and covers an area of 483,000 km², 35% of Colombia's total territory. The region is mostly covered by ...
and western
Brazilian Amazon
Brazilian commonly refers to:
* Something of, from or relating to Brazil
* Brazilian Portuguese, the dialect of the Portuguese language used mostly in Brazil
* Brazilians, the people (citizens) of Brazil, or of Brazilian descent
Brazilian may also ...