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Phone: (307) 766-2508

Email: insectid@uwyo.edu

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Grasshoppers of Wyoming and the West

Entomology

Metator pardalinus (Saussure)

Common name - Pard grasshopper (Heifer, 1972).

Geographic distribution - Alberta and Manitoba (Canada), to Arizona and Texas (Heifer, 1972). In Colorado it is found throughout the eastern half of the state.

Colorado Distribution Map

Habitat - arid prairies and sub-arid areas. Found on clay-like soil, grasses and sedges (Criddle, 1933a; Helfer, 1972).

Food habits - graminivorous preferring cares, wheatgrass, beardgrass and needlegrass (Brooks, 1958; Criddle, 1933a).

Eggs - 14 eggs are arranged in two to three disorderly columns within a pod. Egg color is light yellow turning reddish-brown. Average egg length, 7.3 mm; average diameter, 1.3 mm (Onsager and Mulkern, 1963).

Nymph - five instars (Ramsey, 1964).

Adult - medium to large. General color is grey or brown, mottled with black. Face is vertical. Vertex is rounded. Antennae are slender and long. Dorsal posterior margin of pronotum is a right angle. Tegmina are long with distinct brown splotches and pale dorsal stripes converging in a "V" on top of the back. Wings are yellow, orange or red. Apex is clear and banded with a long spur. Innerfaces of hind femora and hind tibiae are blue. Male length, 26 mm; female, 34 mm (Beamer, 1917; Helfer, 1972).

Seasonal history - overwinters as an egg. Adults can be seen from June to September (Criddle, 1933a; Helfer, 1972).

Abundance and importance - an important range grasshopper that is sometimes injurious to wheat and other grain crops (Gillette, 1904)

M. pardalinus fact sheet from the Field Guide to Common Western Grasshoppers
Next Species: Oecanthus spp.
Previous Species: Mestobregma plattei
Biology of Common Colorado Grasshoppers List
Biology of Common Colorado Grasshoppers
Grasshoppers of Colorado Contents

Contact Us

Scott Schell

Room #9, Agriculture Bldg.

Phone: (307) 766-2508

Email: insectid@uwyo.edu

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