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Scott Schell

Room #9, Agriculture Bldg.

Phone: (307) 766-2508

Email: insectid@uwyo.edu

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Grasshoppers of Wyoming and the West

Entomology

GRASSHOPPERS OF COLORADO

GLOSSARY OF TERMINOLOGY

A - acre

Al - active ingredient

ABDOMEN - the posterior of the three main body divisions

ABORTIVE - arrested in development; rudimentary

ACRE - 43,560 square feet or 0.4047 hectare

ACTIVE INGREDIENT - the amount of toxicant present in insecticide, usually expressed as % or lb/gal

ACUTE ANGLE - an angle less than 90'; pointed

AEDEAGUS - the intromittent organ of male insects; "penis"

ALPINE - growing or living in high altitudes above timberline

ANAL - pertaining to the last abdominal segment (which bears the anus); the posterior basal part (for example, of the wing)

ANTENNAE - (sing., antenna) a pair of segmented appendages located on the head above the mouthparts and sensory in function

ANTERIOR - front; in front of

APEX - (pl., apices) the end of a structure farthest from its base or point of attachment; "tip" of a structure

APICAL - at the end, tip or outermost part

APPENDAGE - any part, piece or organ attached by a joint to the body or to any other main structure

ARTHROPOD - any member of a large phylum (Arthropoda) of invertebrate animals with jointed legs and a segmented body, such as insects, crustaceans, spiders, centipedes and trilobites

AUDITORY ORGAN - any structure that functions as an ear; in Orthoptera, specialized structures covered by a tense membrane on the anterior tibiae or the base of the abdomen 

BASAL - at the base; near the point of attachment (of an appendage)

BILOBATE - divided into two lobes

BOREAL - of or pertaining to the northern zone of plant and animal life lying just below the tundra

CALCAREOUS - of, like or containing calcium carbonate, calcium or lime

CANNIBALISTIC - feeding on other individuals of the same species

CARINA - (pl., carinae) an elevated ridge or keel, not necessarily high or acute

CERCUS - (pi., cerci) an appendage (generally paired) near the end of the abdomen, often segmented but sometimes not and often important in insect classification

CLEFT - split; partly divided longitudinally

CLUBBED - thickening gradually toward the tip

CLYPEUS -the lower portion of the face between the front and the labrum

CONICAL - cylindrical, with a flat base, tapering to a point

CONCAVE-curving inward, like the inside surface of a sphere

CONVEX - curving out, like the outside surface of a sphere

COSTAL FIELD - that region of the tegmina adjacent to the anterior margin or costa

COSTAL MARGIN - the anterior margin of a wing

COSTAL VEIN - a longitudinal wing vein, usually forming the anterior margin of the wing

COXA - (pl., coxae) the basal segment of the leg

CRENULATE - having the margin cut into rounded scallops

CROP - the dilated posterior portion of the foregut, which serves to receive and hold food prior to its slower passage through the rest of the digestive tract

CUCURBITS - any plant of the gourd family (Cucurbitaceae) e.g., squash, melon, pumpkin, etc.

CYLINDRICAL - in the form of a cylinder or tube 

DIAPAUSE - a delay in development which facilitates survival during unfavorable times; roughly equivalent to hibernation

DIMORPHISM - the occurrence of two types of individuals in the same species, distinct in coloring, size, etc. Sexual dimorphism is differences between sexes of the same species

DISC - somwhat flat circular part or area; central upper portion or central portion, usually of wing

DISTAL - toward the end farthest from the point of attachment on the body; near or toward the free end or apex of any appendage

DORSAL - of or belonging to the upper surface

DORSUM - the back, or top side

ECLOSION - hatching of eggs

EGG BED - sites where large numbers of egg pods have been deposited; often characterized by dry sandy soil

EGG POD - an egg capsule

EPIZOOTIC - epidemic or outbreak of disease

EQUIDISTANT - equally distant from any two or more points 

FECUNDITY - number of eggs or offspring produced; an expression of reproductive potential

FEMUR - (pl., femora) thigh; usually the stoutest segment of the insect leg, connected to the body by a coxa and trochanter and bearing a tibia at the distal end

FORB - a broad-leaved flowering plant as distinguished from the grasses, sedges, etc.

FORBIVOROUS - forb-eating

FOVEOLAE - (sing., foveola) small depressions or pits located below the vertex

FRONT - the upper anterior portion of the head, below the vertex and above the clypeus, including the area between the antennae bases

FRONTAL COSTA - broad prominent vertical ridge on front of head between compound eyes and running down toward clypeal margin, often bearing median ocellus

FURCULA - (pl., furculae) a forked process; paired structure at the base of the supraanal plate of some grasshoppers, often distinctive in size and shape and then useful in classification of closely related species

G - gram

GENITALIA - the sexual organs and associated structures

GRAM - 0.03527 oz.

GRAMINIVOROUS - grass-eating

GRASS - any of a family (Gramineae) of plants with long, narrow leaves, jointed stems, flowers in spikelets and seed-like fruit, as wheat, rye, barley, oats, etc.

GREGARIOUS - living in groups 

HA - hectare

HABITAT - the region or environment that an organism naturally inhabits

HECTARE - 2.471 acres

INCISION - any cut into a margin or through a surface

INSTAR - developmental stage between molts e.g., the first instar is the stage between the egg and the first molt

INTEGUMENT - the outer covering or cuticle of the insect body

INTER - prefix meaning among or between

INTERCALARY VEIN - short vein sometimes present on tegmen of grasshoppers, between median and cubitus veins

INVERTEBRATE - an animal without a backbone

KEEL - an elevated ridge or carina

KG - kilogram

KILOGRAM - 1000 grams or 2.2046 lbs.

KNEE - the point of junction of the femur and the tibia 

LABRUM - upper lip

LATERAL - relating, pertaining, or attached, to the side

LATERAL CARINA - (pl., carinae) in grasshoppers, carinae or ridges on pronotum extending along each lateral margin of the dorsum

LATERAL LOBES - side portions of pronotum which cover sides of prothorax

LB -pound

LONGITUDINAL - lengthwise of the body or of an appendage; in the direction of the long axis

MARGINAL FIELD - the anterior area of a wing or tegmen

MARL - a mixture of clay, sand, and limestone in varying proportions that is soft and crumbly

MEDI - prefix meaning middle

MEDIAN - in or at the middle; of or pertaining to the middle

MEDIAN CARINA - any keel or ridge set medially on a part of an insect; of the head, a ridge in center of vertex; of the pronotum, a ridge along the middle

MESOSTERNUM - bottom or ventral portion of the mesothorax

METAMORPHOSIS - a change in form during development

METASTERNUM - bottom or ventral portion of metathorax

METAZONA - portion of the pronotum behind principal sulcus

METER - 3.2808 linear ft.; a square meter is 1.196 sq. yd.

MOLT - the process of shedding the integument

MONOPHAGOUS - feeding upon only one kind of food; this is usually interpreted to indicate feeding on one species of plant

NOCTURNAL - active at night

NOTCH - (pl., notches) a convave or V-shaped cut or incision in an edge or across a surface

NYMPH - a young stage of insects with incomplete metamorphosis; e.g., an immature grasshopper

OBLIQUE - slanting; any direction between perpendicular and horizontal

OBTUSE ANGLE - an angle greater than 90' and less than 180'; not pointed

OCELLUS - (pl., ocelli) a simple eye

OLIGOPHAGOUS - feeding upon a limited variety of food; feeding upon only a few species of plants, usually within a single family

OMNIVOROUS - eating any sort of food, especially both animal and vegetable food

OPAQUE - not letting light pass through; not transparent or translucent

ORTHOPTERA - an ordinal group of insects that includes grasshoppers, cockroaches, crickets, katydids, praying mantids and others

OUNCE - 28.3495 grams

OVIPOSITOR - external egg laying apparatus of female insects

OZ - ounce

PHYLUM - (pi., phyla) any of the broad, principal divisions of the animal kingdom

POLYPHAGOUS - eating many kinds of food, usually plant species from several families

POSTERIOR - hind or rear

POUND - 16 oz. or 453.59 grams

PRONOTUM - shield-like cover of the prothorax

PROSTERNUM - bottom portion of prothorax; forebreast

PROXIMAL - nearer to the body, or to the base of an appendage

PROZONA - portion of the pronotum in front of the principal sulcus

PUNCTATE - with impressed dots or punctures

QUADRATE - square or nearly square; rectangular

QUADRILATERAL - a four-sided area

RADIATE VEINS - the longitudinal veins spreading fan-like in the anal field of the hind wings

RIGHT ANGLE - an angle of 90'; an angle made by the meeting of two straight lines perpendicular to each other 

SEDGE - any of a family (Cyperaceae) of grass-like plants often found on wet ground or in water, having usually triangular, solid stems, three rows of narrow, pointed leaves and minute flowers borne in spikelets

SPATULATE - spoon-shaped; broad and with a depression apically, and narrowed basally

SPECIES - groups of actually (or potentially) interbreeding natural populations which are reproductively isolated from other such groups

SPINE - a thorn-like outgrowth of the integument, usually associated with the leg segments

SPUR - of a leg segment: a movable "spine," usually larger than most spines and located at the apex of the segment; of wing: dark marking running toward base from band, near front of wing

SPURIOUS VEIN - certain folds or thickenings in the wing surface which resemble veins so nearly as to be readily mistaken for them

STRIDULATE - to make a sound by rubbing two structures or surfaces together

SUBAPICAL - near the apex

SUBGENITAL PLATE - a plate covering the genital opening from beneath, often scoop-shaped

SUBSPECIES - a geographically defined aggregate of local populations which differs from other such subdivisions of the species

SULCUS - (pl., sulci) a groove or furrow

SUPRAANAL PLATE - a more or less triangular-shaped plate over the anus

SYMMETRICAL - having the two halves shaped as mirror images of each other

TARSUS - (pi., tarsi) the foot; the jointed appendage attached at the apex of the tibia, bearing the claws

TEGMEN - (pl., tegmina) the thickened or leathery front wing of an orthopteran

THORAX - the body region behind the head, which bears the legs and wings

TIBIA - (pi., tibiae) the fourth segment of the leg, between the femur and tarsus

TRANSVERSE - broader than long; running across

TROCHANTER - the second segment of the leg, between the coxa and femur

TRUNCATE - cut squarely across; shortened

TUBERCLE - a small knob-like or rounded protuberance

VENATION - the complete system of veins of a wing

VENTRAL - pertaining to the undersurface

VERTEX - the top of the head, including the region between the eyes

VERTICAL - perpendicular, or at a right angle, to the plane of the horizon; upright; straight up and down

WING DISC - the central area of a wing

WING PADS - the undeveloped wings of nymphs

YARD - 3 linear ft. or 0.9144 m; a square yard is 9 sq. ft. or 0.8361 sq. m.

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Contact Us

Scott Schell

Room #9, Agriculture Bldg.

Phone: (307) 766-2508

Email: insectid@uwyo.edu

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