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Photo#231890
Grouse Locust - Tettigidea

Grouse Locust - Tettigidea
Newton, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, USA
October 7, 2008
Size: 12 mm
Beside a trail through woods, near wetlands, in suburban Boston. Several insects and a spider were enjoying the patch of sunshine.

Edit: Title changed to Grouse Locust

Images of this individual: tag all
Grouse Locust - Tettigidea Grasshopper - Tettigidea

Tettigidea species
It is probably T. armata.

 
Two more shots
Given the genus I found the key to species at Blatchley(1) p. 181. I added two blurry shots (which I will frass later) which better show the angle of the front of the pronotum. To my eye, it does not look as angular or project as far forward as armata.

 
variable
I do know that the pronotal character is variable from individual to individual, but I am not personally familiar enough with this genus to recognize the species confidently at first sight. I think the photos will help. I'll dig out Hancock's and Rehn & Grants work when I get home (tomorrow) and see what is there. I can't tell from Blatchley's keys, everything is too subjective. However, it doesn't "look" like T. lateralis to me, and it does "look" like T. armata. It clearly is not T. prorsa. There are a couple of other names to consider though, and I'm not even sure which is a synonym of which without doing some more digging. I've been meaning to start trying to sort through the Pygmies on BugGuide, maybe this'll get me going.

Here's another that seems to be the same:

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