Funky Orphulella at a new spot in Kouchibouguac - Chorthippus

I have looked up a number of European treatments

on Orthoptera, and while none is comprehensive, and while I haven't found a (legible) review of the entire genus Chorthippus, in every one of these publications your specimens would come out as C. brunneus. It seems to be a perfect match. They seem particularly similar to British material.

… David J. Ferguson, 21 August, 2012 - 9:56pm

Thanks David!

This of course would make sense, as there is a long history of exchange and colonization here on the east coast of New Brunswick with Britain. What is now the National Park and parts just to the south and north of it were both major shipbuilding areas in the 19th century (with attendant trade). No less than 42 tall ships were built within the park boundaries and many more in what is now the City of Miramichi to the north. Today (August 22nd), I will try to find more sites in the park and perhaps outside for this species. It is also kind of freaky to find "imported grasshoppers" and 2000 year-old arrowheads within a few dozen meters of each other. I will also take more images and will photograph parts under a microscope in the upcoming months, as soon as I have access to such.

… Denis A. Doucet, 22 August, 2012 - 3:46am

Compare with this one

at Biolib.

Moved from Orphulella.

I'm pretty convinced now, so it didn't take me long at all to move them to Chorthippus. Now, just have to verify the species (or if it's an undescribed one).

… David J. Ferguson, 16 August, 2012 - 1:03am

follow-up

These have been bothering me a bit. For one thing I've never seen orange coloring like yours on the males of Orphulella. Then I noticed that the shape of the tegmina (particularly on the males) is wrong. I can't come up with other recognized North American options that fit. When I try going "outside the box" I'm struck by the idea that these are perhaps an undescribed or introduced species of Chorthippus subgenus Glyptobothrus that has gone unnoticed. They are very similar to some of the European species, and perhaps they are the same as one of them (???).

Compare with Chorthippus brunneus (a Google search will pull up lots of images). If this is something like C. brunneus, it should be documented with collected specimens placed in a university or museum.

For now I'll leave them where they are in the genus Orphulella, but I may be moving them soon, as we learn more. There seems to be one more (or perhaps two) posted from Newfoundland that may be the same (though the coloring is a bit different).

… David J. Ferguson, 15 August, 2012 - 11:17pm

These all look a lot like Orphulella pelidna

The color pattern varies a lot individually, and this is a very common color pattern.

… David J. Ferguson, 15 August, 2012 - 8:23pm