Adult male | Adult female |
Common name - Sagebrush grasshopper (Anderson and Wright, 1952).
Geographic distribution - Alberta and Saskatchewan (Canada) to Arizona and Oklahoma (Heifer, 1972). In Colorado it is found in the eastern half of the state and in the western mountain valleys and foothills (Gillette, 1904; Hebard, 1929).
Habitat - short-grass ranges and dry, open woods (Coppock, 1962; Froeschner, 1954).
Food habits - forbivorous, feeding only on plants of the genus Artemesia. It especially prefers dwarf sage and sand sagebrush (Mulkern et al., 1969; Onsager and Mulkern 1963).
Eggs - eggs are tan colored. Average egg length, 4.8 mm; average diameter, 1 mm (Onsager and Mulkern, 1963).
Nymph - five instars (Ramsey, 1964).
Adult - M. bowditchi is almost identical to M. flavidus; see description of M. flavidus. However, the tegmina tend to be more spotted in M. bowditchi, and the aedeagus is not cupshaped at the tip. (Coppock, 1962).
Cercus | Furculae | Aedeagus |
Seasonal history - July to September (Froeschner, 1954).
Abundance and importance - common in southeastern Colorado. Occurs in small numbers in northeastern Colorado (Gillette, 1904).
M. bowditchi fact sheet from the Field Guide to Common Western Grasshoppers
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