Subfamily Gomphocerinae - Slant-faced Grasshoppers

Stridulating Slantfaced Grasshoppers

Orthoptera Species File Online lists as Gomphocerinae Fieber, 1853.

The subfamily is divided into groupings of similar genera here for convenience. These are roughly equivalent to tribes, but are not treated as such because they do not match up with those listed on Orthoptera Species Files, and the nomenclature is in a state of flux now. There is a great deal of new information accumulating from molecular studies that challenges many traditional groupings, and also there are few authors divide the subfamily in the same ways. The groupings of genera used here put similar-looking species together, and probably are fairly natural groupings of related genera.

In North America, this is the only group of Grasshoppers in which males (and often females) have a stridulatory file on the inner side of the hind femur, consisting of a row of raised pegs along a raised ridge. This is rubbed on tegminae to produce sound.

In most there is no prominence between the front legs on the prosternum (though there may be a roughly conical or pyramidal projection in some genera). There are a few species of Oedipodinae with clear or nearly clear wings that could be confused with some Gomphocerinae, but they will have (at least on the males) a stridulatory file on a raised vein(s) on the tegmina (front wings) rather than on the hind leg, and while sound is made the same way, by rubbing legs against tegmina, the placement of the "parts" is opposite.

In most (but not all) genera the head has the face slanting backward from the top down; in some strongly so. Also, mostly, the Oedipodinae have more roughened body surfaces above and/or have a prominent raised ridge on the middle of the pronotum (present but low on

The hind wings are usually clear and at most tinted with color (if so, usually bluish or yellowish) and with at most some cloudy darkening toward the outer edge. A few species have black wings or yellow wings with a black crossband, but these have the heads almost pointed and the face strongly sloping back (unlike any Band-wing Grasshopper species).

World-wide except the Australian region and Antarctica.

Highly varied and occuring in most any environment with green food. However, a majority of species favor sunny meadowy or marshy environments. A smaller but still large group of species (many of those with more rounded vertically oriented heads) tend to favor semi-arid steppes, where they may even prefer to rest on bare ground in favor of vegetation.

Most species utilize primarily Grasses (Poaceae) and related plants as food, but this is a large subfamily with many species, and food preferences cover a wide range of plant types.