''Betiscoides meridionalis'', the slender restio grasshopper, is a species of lentulid

grasshopper Grasshoppers are a group of insects belonging to the suborder Caelifera. They are amongst what are possibly the most ancient living groups of chewing herbivorous insects, dating back to the early Triassic around 250 million years ago. Grassh ...

which is

endemic Endemism is the state of a species being found only in a single defined geographic location, such as an island, state, nation, country or other defined zone; organisms that are indigenous to a place are not endemic to it if they are also foun ...

to South Africa. It occurs only in the

Western Cape The Western Cape ( ; , ) is a provinces of South Africa, province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the List of South African provinces by area, fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , an ...

where it is found in damp areas, in upland areas and on plateaux, vegetated with ''

Restio ''Restio'' is a genus of flowering plants within the family Restionaceae, described in 1772.Rottbøll, Christen Friis. 1772. Descriptiones Plantarum Rariorum 9 The entire genus is endemic to the Cape Provinces and KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. ...

'' species. This flightless grasshopper is threatened by droughts and wildfires which destroy its habitat. It is classified as an endangered species on the

IUCN Red List The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is an inventory of the global conservation status and extinction risk of biological ...

. It is a medium sized species, growing to a length of , and its thin elongated body mimics the stems of the restios it is found among. Its smooth body is marked with three longitudinal stripes, one green, one grey, and the other brown. Adults are found from January to May.

References

{{Taxonbar, From=Q10429007 Lentulidae Orthoptera of Africa Endemic insects of South Africa Taxa named by Bror Yngve Sjöstedt