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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Grasshoppers, Crickets, Katydids (Orthoptera) » Grasshoppers (Caelifera) » Short-horned Grasshoppers (Acrididae) » Spur-throated Grasshoppers (Melanoplinae) » Melanoplini » Melanoplus » Pasture Grasshopper (Melanoplus confusus)
Photo#1098178
grasshopper - Melanoplus? - Melanoplus confusus - female
Copyright © 2015 Richard Bunn

grasshopper - Melanoplus? - Melanoplus confusus - Female
Cheyenne Mountain State Park (38.730667° -104.822959° E6050’), El Paso County, Colorado, USA
July 2, 2015
Possibly Melanoplus confuses: Tibia bluish and lower side of femur orangish (and possibly lower side). Dark patch behind the eye and pronotal lobe. However, patch behind the eye not black (usually black), but patch on the lobe is black as described in Wyoming Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin 912. Possibly Melanoplus sanguinipes? Bouteloua-Stipa grassland, base of Cheyenne Mountain.

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grasshopper - Melanoplus? - Melanoplus confusus - female grasshopper - Melanoplus? - Melanoplus confusus - female
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Contributed by Richard Bunn on 8 July, 2015 - 8:19am
Last updated 28 September, 2015 - 9:46am

I keep coming back to M. confusus as the best fit
I think you nailed it right off, and I was just being cautious.

Moved from Melanoplus.
… David J. Ferguson, 28 September, 2015 - 9:46am login or register to post comments

Moved
Moved from Grasshoppers, Crickets, Katydids.
… Eric R. Eaton, 28 July, 2015 - 1:57pm login or register to post comments

I think this probably is indeed Melanoplus confusus
though she looks a bit stocky for the species, and - usually - the main cut across the top of the pronotum is further back. So, there is some room for doubt.

She doesn't really look like M. sanguinipes, and wings this short are uncommon in that species.

I'm not sure how large she was, but proportions are also similar to M. infantilis, which is another species that matures early. Usually noticeably smaller than both M. sanguinipes and M. confusus (and any other similar species that might be in the area). Also, the dark markings on the outer side of the hind femur are generally more broken into chevrons that follow the structure of the femur (but they vary). And, the dark bar on the sides of the pronotum is not so solid. It can be abundant in higher grasslands near the base of the mountains (and in the mountains), especially in June and July.

I can't think of any other really likely species that might be in the same area, but this could be another. If you can find matching males (showing the end of the abdomen), that would help to be more certain.
… David J. Ferguson, 9 July, 2015 - 10:48am login or register to post comments

 
males (showing the end of the abdomen)
I finally got access to the photographs from this date. Looks like that this species is the only one I photographed on that trip, and this female is the only individual.
… Richard Bunn, 27 September, 2015 - 5:51pm login or register to post comments

Moved for expert attention
A female, so tougher to ID.

Moved from ID Request.
… metrioptera, 8 July, 2015 - 5:43pm login or register to post comments

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