Species Melanoplus querneus - Oak Spur-throat Grasshopper

Oak Spur-throat Grasshopper

Melanoplus querneus Rehn & Hebard, 1916

22 - 40 mm; females considerably larger than males

Hind tibiae red; hind femur distinctly cross-banded dark on outer side. Tegmina short, but longer than pronotum, overlapping above, usually (when folded) light on top and contrastingly darker on sides.

Very similar to M. nigrescens, replacing it southward. That species averages darker, and the male cerci are narrower. Quite likely the two are regional variants of one species.

M. walshii is wide-ranging further to the northwest, and is smaller. Male cerci smaller and more slender than in either of the above. Tegmina a bit shorter than either (usually about equal to pronotum in length), usually with light stripes along top edges (when folded) as apposed to entirely light on top.

M. alabamae, tunicae, & ponderosus occur further west, and all have more expanded male cerci. M. alabamae is very similar in appearance (it replaces M. querneus immediately to the west in Mississippi and Tennessee), and females may be difficult to separate.

Male cercus

northern Florida into southwestern Georgia and southeastern Alabama.

undergrowth and margins of woodlands (1)

Melanoplus alabamae

Melanoplus nigrescens