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Subfamily Leptysminae - Spur-throat Toothpick Grasshoppers

Stick like Grasshopper - Leptysma marginicollis

grasshopper - Stenacris vitreipennis - female

Cattail Toothpick Grasshopper (Leptysma marginicollis) - Leptysma marginicollis

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)

Class Insecta (Insects)

Order Orthoptera (Grasshoppers, Crickets, Katydids)

Suborder Caelifera (Grasshoppers)

Family Acrididae (Short-horned Grasshoppers)

Subfamily Leptysminae (Spur-throat Toothpick Grasshoppers)

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

group Leptysmae Brunner von Wattenwyl, 1893. Type genus Leptysma Stål, 1873

tribe Leptysmi (Brunner von Wattenwyl) Blatchley, 1920

subfamily Leptysminae (Brunner von Wattenwyl) Amédégnato, 1974

Explanation of Names

Has in past been considered part of subfamily Cyrtacanthacridinae. Currently treated by most authors as a distinct subfamily.

Numbers

Our two genera are included in the tribe Leptysmini, which includes approximately 9 genera and 35 species, all from the Neotropics, with a few species ranging somewhat north or south of the tropics. Two other tribes are recognized, but not found in our area.

Identification

Slender roughly cylindrical grasshoppers with strongly receding slanting faces (sometimes nearly horizontal). Wings slender, tapering and narrowly rounded to nearly pointed apically when folded. There is a strong tubercle between the base of the front legs on the prosternum. Easily confused with some Gomphocerinae and Acridinae.