Neotropical
The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone.
Definition
In biogeogra ...
genus of
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 ...
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. It is known to be polyphagous, but there is not much else known regarding its diet ...
.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
A nymph (; ; sometimes spelled nymphe) is a minor female nature deity in ancient Greek folklore. Distinct from other Greek goddesses, nymphs are generally regarded as personifications of nature; they are typically tied to a specific place, land ...
have bright
aposematic
Aposematism is the Advertising in biology, advertising by an animal, whether terrestrial or marine, to potential predation, predators that it is not worth attacking or eating. This unprofitability may consist of any defenses which make the pr ...
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. I ...
.
These locally abundant grasshoppers inhabit a wide range of habitats, from
rainforest
Rainforests are forests characterized by a closed and continuous tree Canopy (biology), canopy, moisture-dependent vegetation, the presence of epiphytes and lianas and the absence of wildfire. Rainforests can be generally classified as tropi ...
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'' 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 subfa ...
, 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
''Tropidacris collaris'', the blue-winged grasshopper or violet-winged grasshopper, is a large South American species of grasshopper in the family Romaleidae. As suggested by its name, in flight the wings are usually conspicuously blue, but they ...
'' (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 precisely 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 a ...
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 and western
Brazilian Amazon
Brazilian commonly refers to:
* Brazil, a country
* Brazilians, its people
* Brazilian Portuguese, its dialect
Brazilian may also refer to:
* "The Brazilian", a 1986 instrumental music piece by Genesis
* Brazilian Café, Baghdad, Iraq (1937)
* Bra ...
.
File:Tropidacris collaris MHNTdos vol.jpg, ''
Tropidacris collaris
''Tropidacris collaris'', the blue-winged grasshopper or violet-winged grasshopper, is a large South American species of grasshopper in the family Romaleidae. As suggested by its name, in flight the wings are usually conspicuously blue, but they ...