Geographic distribution - Canada to southern California and west to Wyoming (Scoggan and Brusven, 1972). Distributed throughout Colorado but most common in the mountains.
Habitat - grassy hills and prairies, sandy blowouts and small clearings in pine forests (Alexander and Hilliard, 1969; Criddle, 1933a: Helfer, 1972).
Food habits - a mixed feeder. It eats range grasses and occasionally cultivated grain (Ball et al., 1942; Brooks, 1958).
Nymph - five instars (Scoggan and Brusven, 1972).
Adult - medium to large size and robust. General color is dark grey-brown. Face is vertical. Vertex is rounded. Antennae are slender and darkening toward the tip. Median carina of pronotum has two notches. Dorsal posterior margin of pronotum forms a right angle (sometimes a rounded right angle). Lateral lobes of prontoum are wider ventrally than in the middle. Tegmina have indistinct bands and usually pale dorsal stripes that converge on top of the back when wings are folded, forming an elongated "V." Wing has a yellow disc, clear apex and spurred black band. Hind tibiae are bright reddish-orange. Male length, 32 mm; female, 45 mm (Alexander and Hilliard, 1969; Ball et al., 1942).
Seasonal history - overwinters in the egg stage. Nymphs hatch from early May to mid-June. Adults appear from mid-June to August, depending on altitude (Scoggan and Brusven, 1972).
Abundance and importance - a potential economic pest but only as a member of a damaging complex of grasshopper species. C. neglectus itself probably would not reach damaging numbers, but it does dwell on prime range land (Scoggan and Brusven, 1972).
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Biology of Common Colorado Grasshoppers List
Biology of Common Colorado Grasshoppers
Grasshoppers of Colorado Contents
