Species Melanoplus alabamae - Alabama Spur-throat Grasshopper

Melanoplus alabamae Hebard, 1920. Type locality: Evergreen, Conecuh County, Alabama

Very like M. querneus & M. nigrescens from further east. Wings are usually longer, and male cerci are more expanded apically.

It is also a bit probematic to know where M. walshii (to the north) stops and M. alabamae begins. The main differences include slightly longer wings that have the pale stripe at the angle usually less prominent, distinctly smaller male furculae, and wider cerci in M. alabamae, but these differences are not great, and the two species are very similar.

It is possible, if not likely, that M. walshii, M. alabamae, M. querneus, and M. nigrescens will one day be found to represent a continuum of variation within a single wide-ranging species. The extremes look somewhat different, but there seem to be intermediates connecting them. They need to be studied more extensively in the field.

The species could also be confused with M. ponderosus & M. tunicae from further west, but M. alabamae is somewhat more slender; coloration more "smooth" and shining, with sides usually distinctly darker than top, usually with a hint of a pale line along sides of top of pronotum, and male cerci are smaller and less expanded apically. It seems likely that these are also close relatives.

Reported from type locality and from Greenville, Butler County, Alabama and Brookhaven, Lincoln County, Mississippi. It could be that the Brookhaven female was really M. tunicae?