Common name - Sprinkled locust (Somes, 1914).
Geographic distribution - Maine to Ontario and Alberta in southern Canada and south to North Carolina, Arkansas and Colorado (Froeschner, 1954). In Colorado it is found in the foothills of the northern part of the state (Alexander, 1941).
Habitat - lives in dense vegetative cover as occurs at fence rows and in woods (Froeschner, 1954).
Food habits - feeds on grasses; its preferred grass is bluegrass (Mulkern et al., 1969; Uvarov, 1977).
Eggs - about 10 creamy white eggs are produced per pod. Average length, 5 mm; average diameter, 1 mm (Onsager and Mulkern, 1963).
Nymph - five instars (Cantrall, 1943).
Adult - small to medium size. General color is brown. Face is slightly slanted. Vertex
is rounded. Antennae are slender. Dorsal posterior margin of pronotum is straight
to weakly curved. Lateral carinae are prominent on head and pronotum. Median carina
is not as noticeable.
Males: brown, mottled with fine black spots. Lateral lobes of pronotum are shining
black. Ventral surface is rich, reddish-brown. Tegmina are expanded distally. Wings
are colorless. Length, 19 mm.
Females: larger and duller. Lateral lobes of pronotum are not black. Wings and tegmina
usually are short and abortive. Length, 22 mm (Somes, 1914).
Oviposition - female drills holes in wood and deposits her eggs there. She will deposit eggs in soil and dung when wood is unavailable (Somes, 1914).
Seasonal history - adults appear in late June and remain until early September (Hubbel, 1922b).
Abundance and importance - local distribution near wooded areas keeps C. conspersa from being an economic pest (Brusven, 1967).
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Previous Species: Ceuthophilus and related spp.
Biology of Common Colorado Grasshoppers List
Biology of Common Colorado Grasshoppers
Grasshoppers of Colorado Contents
