Identification
Yellowish, with distinctive dark stripe running down middle of abdomen and pronotum. It has no spines on the hind lobe of the pronotum. Usually micropterous with the wings reduced to tiny pads. A macropterous form is known, but rare. Generally this species occurs on the ground about grass clumps in old fields. It is widely distributed from Maine west to Utah and southwest to Texas, but is generally uncommon.
Compare the only other North America species, F. spinulosa, which has two short spines or tubercles on the hind lobe of the pronotum. It ranges from New York to Indiana and south to Florida and Texas.
(1)Range
Maine west to Utah and southwest to Texas
Season
Spring to mid-summer, fall. May-July, September-October (Minnesota)
Life Cycle
Judging from recorded dates, probably overwinters as an adult.
Print References
Slater,
How to Know the True Bugs, p. 125, figs. 228, 229
(1)
Brimley, p. 73, lists one record for the Sandhills of North Carolina, in April. F. spinulosa is listed from several localities, October-March.
(2)
