Common name - McNeill campestral grasshopper (Heifer, 1972).
Recent Synonymy - Trimerotropis monticola Saussure.
Geographic distribution - Manitoba to British Columbia (Canada); south to the Dakotas, Montana and Colorado (Brooks, 1958). In Colorado it can be found along the eastern foothills and across the plains in the northern part of the state. It occurs in the mountains of central Colorado up to 9,000 ft. (Gillette, 1904).
Habitat - Open areas of short grass, gravelly areas and dry hillsides (Brooks, 1958; Hebard, 1928).
Food habits - a mixed feeder preferring grasses. It also shows preference for milkvetch. It has been observed feeding on blue grama and sunsedge (Anderson, 1964; Criddle, 1933a; Kumar et al., 1976).
Eggs - eggs are deposited 14 per pod; color is tan turning dark brown. Average egg length, 5.9 mm; average diameter, 1.3 mm (Onsager and Mulkern, 1963).
Nymph - five instars (Scoggan and Brusven, 1972).
Adult - medium size, slender. General color is dark gray, mottled or with black spots. Face is vertical, vertex is rounded, antennae are slender. Dorsal posterior edge of pronotum is a right angle. Median carina of pronotum is cut by two sulci. Often entire head and pronotum are light-yellow without spots, or the lower half of the face and the posterior half of the pronotum are light-colored with a few small spots. Bands on tegmina are irregular and composed of small dark spots. Wings are yellow with broad black band. Spur of wing extends halfway to wing attachment. Hind femora have three bands on inner face. Bands are faintly visible on outer face. Hind tibiae are red or orange. Male length, 25 mm; female, 32 mm (Ball et al., 1942; Brooks, 1958; Hewitt and Barr, 1967).
Seasonal history - adults are present in August and September (Ball et al., 1942).
Abundance and importance - common along eastern Colorado foothills and the northern Colorado plains. Occurs in the central Colorado foothills but is not common (Gillette, 1904).
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Biology of Common Colorado Grasshoppers List
Biology of Common Colorado Grasshoppers
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