''Sigaus villosus'' is New Zealand's largest grasshopper. It is only found in the central mountains of the

South Island The South Island ( , 'the waters of Pounamu, Greenstone') is the largest of the three major islands of New Zealand by surface area, the others being the smaller but more populous North Island and Stewart Island. It is bordered to the north by ...

. The genus '' Sigaus'' 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 New Zealand. Like all of New Zealand sub-alpine and alpine grasshoppers ''Sigaus villosus'' has a 3 or 4 year

life cycle Life cycle, life-cycle, or lifecycle may refer to: Science and academia *Biological life cycle, the sequence of life stages that an organism undergoes from conception to reproduction *Life-cycle hypothesis, in economics *Erikson's stages of psy ...

. The eggs must ‘overwinter’ before they will hatch. Hoppers are found throughout the year and adult grasshoppers can be found throughout the New Zealand

summer Summer or summertime is the hottest and brightest of the four temperate seasons, occurring after spring and before autumn. At or centred on the summer solstice, daylight hours are the longest and darkness hours are the shortest, with day ...

between December and April. These flightless grasshoppers have distinctive black eyes.

Distribution and habitat

''Sigaus villosus'' is known from the central mountains of the

, with the largest population on the Craigieburn Range. It can be found as far south as the Fox Peak () and as far north as the Mount Wilson (). The black eye grasshopper is a truly high alpine species, as it prefers open bare rocky screes between in elevation. In the past, it could be found down as low as at the

Porters Ski Area Porters, is a commercial ski resort just over an hour's drive (98 km) west from Christchurch, in the South Island of New Zealand. Originally functioning as a club skifield, it has one beginner magic carpet, one platter tow, one chairlift a ...

at the bottom of long open screes (). With global warming ''Sigaus villosus'' is expected to lose between 20% and 95% of its distribution.

Species description

This species was first described by J. T. Salmon in 1950 and originally named ''Brachaspis villosa''. The wings on ''S. villosus'' are micropterous (small wings) between making this species flightless like most of New Zealand grasshoppers. ''Sigaus villosus'' is sister to the

North Island The North Island ( , 'the fish of Māui', historically New Ulster) is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but less populous South Island by Cook Strait. With an area of , it is the List ...

alpine species '' Sigaus piliferus''.

Polymorphism

Only one colour morph are known for adults ''S. villosus'', 'Grey'. All specimens are light grey with black coloured eyes.

Type information

MA I321260 TePapa Sigaus-villosus-Salmon full

*Salmon, J.T. 1950: A new species of Acrididae (Insecta: Orthoptera) from New Zealand. Transactions of the Royal Society of New Zealand, Vol. 78, Part 1, page 69, February 1950 *Type locality:

Mount Torlesse Mount is often used as part of the name of specific mountains, e.g. Mount Everest. Mount or Mounts may also refer to: Places * Mount, Cornwall, a village in Warleggan parish, England * Mount, Perranzabuloe, a hamlet in Perranzabuloe parish, C ...

, ,

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. *Type specimen: Immature female; J. T. Salmon;

Holotype A holotype (Latin: ''holotypus'') is a single physical example (or illustration) of an organism used when the species (or lower-ranked taxon) was formally described. It is either the single such physical example (or illustration) or one of s ...

Paratype In zoology and botany, a paratype is a specimen of an organism that helps define what the scientific name of a species and other taxon actually represents, but it is not the holotype (and in botany is also neither an isotype (biology), isotype ...

and Allotype are deposited in the

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. Usually known as Te Papa ( Māori for ' the treasure box'), it opened in 1998 after the merging of the National Museum of New Zealand ...

. Plesiotype are deposited in the Canterbury Museum,

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References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q7511968 Acrididae of New Zealand Insects described in 1950 Acrididae Endemic insects of New Zealand