Pallid-winged grasshopper

The pallid-winged grasshopper (Trimerotropis pallidipennis) is a common grasshopper of the family Acrididae, native to the deserts of western North America along with South America, ranging from British Columbia to Argentina.[2] They are more active during the summer months, and their pale, mottled coloration makes them hard to see against surfaces such as the granite often found in the gravel of dry river beds.[3] They grow to be 37 millimetres (1.5 in). The behavior of the pallid-winged grasshopper is apparently determined by temperature, with foraging occurring at temperatures of 24–32 °C (75–90 °F) and mating at 30–40 °C (86–104 °F).[4]

Pallid-winged grasshopper
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Orthoptera
Suborder: Caelifera
Family: Acrididae
Subfamily: Oedipodinae
Tribe: Trimerotropini
Genus: Trimerotropis
Species:
T. pallidipennis
Binomial name
Trimerotropis pallidipennis
(Burmeister, 1838) [1]

Populations of the pallid-winged grasshopper occasionally irrupt to damaging numbers. Between 1952 and 1980, there were six outbreaks in Arizona, only one of which lasted more than one year.[2]

A female pallid-winged grasshopper

References

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  1. ^ "Trimerotropis pallidipennis". Integrated Taxonomic Information System. Retrieved 14 February 2006.
  2. ^ a b Robert E. Pfadt (2002). "Pallidwinged grasshopper Trimerotropis pallidipennis (Burmeister)". Wyoming Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin 912.
  3. ^ Dexter Sear. "Pallid-winged grasshopper Trimerotropis pallidipennis". insect.org. Archived from the original on 2016-03-03. Retrieved 2006-02-15.
  4. ^ Casey A. Gilman, Eric C. Toolson & Blair O. Wolf (2008). "Effects of temperature on behavior of Trimerotropis pallidipennis (Orthoptera, Acrididae)". The Southwestern Naturalist. 53 (2): 162–168. doi:10.1894/0038-4909(2008)53[162:EOTOBO]2.0.CO;2.