''Holocerus'' is a

monotypic genus In biology, a monotypic taxon is a taxonomic group (taxon) that contains only one immediately subordinate taxon. A monotypic species is one that does not include subspecies or smaller, infraspecific taxa. In the case of genera, the term "unispe ...

groundhopper Tetrigidae is an ancient family in the order Orthoptera, which also includes similar families such as crickets, grasshoppers, and their allies. Species within the Tetrigidae are variously called groundhoppers, pygmy grasshoppers,Borror DJ, Trippl ...

s (

Orthoptera Orthoptera () is an order of insects that comprises the grasshoppers, locusts, and crickets, including closely related insects, such as the bush crickets or katydids and wētā. The order is subdivided into two suborders: Caelifera – gras ...

Caelifera The Caelifera are a suborder of orthopteran insects. They include the grasshoppers and grasshopper-like insects, as well as other superfamilies classified with them: the ground-hoppers ( Tetrigoidea) and pygmy mole crickets ( Tridactyloidea). ...

) in the tribe Guntheritettigini, erected by

Ignacio Bolívar Ignacio Bolívar y Urrutia (; 9 November 1850 – 19 November 1944) was a Spanish natural history, naturalist and entomologist, and one of the founding fathers of Spanish entomology. He helped found the ''Real Sociedad Española de Historia Natu ...

in 1887. Previously placed in the subfamily Metrodorinae, it now forms part of the

Guntheritettiginae Guntheritettiginae is a subfamily of groundhoppers (Orthoptera: Caelifera) erected by Cadena-Castañeda ''et al.'' in 2025.Cadena-Castañeda OJ, Quintana-Arias RF, Infante IC, Silva DSM, Tavares GC (2025) Studies on pygmy grasshoppers: On the cur ...

after a revision in 2025.Cadena-Castañeda OJ, Quintana-Arias RF, Infante IC, Silva DSM, Tavares GC (2025) Studies on pygmy grasshoppers: On the current Metrodorinae sensu lato classification (Orthoptera: Tetrigidae) with emphasis on American and Malagasy taxa. ''Zootaxa'', 5597(1), 1–265
DOI
/ref>

Species

The ''Orthoptera Species File''Orthoptera Species File: genus ''Holocerus'' Bolívar, 1887
(retrieved 12 July 2025)] currently (2025) only includes the one type species ''Holocerus lucifer'' ; this occurs in the

tropical forest Tropical forests are forested ecoregions with tropical climates – that is, land areas approximately bounded by the Tropic of Cancer, tropics of Cancer and Tropic of Capricorn, Capricorn, but possibly affected by other factors such as prevailing ...

s of eastern Madagascar. Its name and appearance have prompted some to call this the "devil's groundhopper" or "devil's pygmy locust". ''Holocerus'' has included other species names, but ''H. taurus'' is a synonym and ''H. devriesei'' has been placed in the related genus '' Notocerus''.

References

External links

* {{taxonbar, from=Q10525382, from2=Q10525383 Caelifera genera Tetrigidae Orthoptera of Africa Monotypic Orthoptera genera Taxa named by Ignacio Bolívar