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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 » Dark-sided Grasshopper (Melanoplus nigrescens)

Species Melanoplus nigrescens - Dark-sided Grasshopper

Classification · Identification · Range · See Also
Grasshopper on Palmetto - Melanoplus nigrescens grasshopper - Melanoplus nigrescens - female Melanoplus sp.? - Melanoplus nigrescens - female Melanoplus sp.? - Melanoplus nigrescens - female
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 Melanoplinae (Spur-throated Grasshoppers)
Tribe Melanoplini
Genus Melanoplus
Species nigrescens (Dark-sided Grasshopper)
Identification
Hind tibiae red; hind femur distinctly cross-banded dark on outer side.
Tegmina short, but longer than pronotum, overlapping above, usually (when folded) light on top and contrastingly darker (often nearly black) on sides.

Very similar to M. querneus, replacing it northeastward. That species averages lighter, and the male cerci are broader. Quite likely the two are regional variants of one species.

M. walshii is wide-ranging further to the northwest, and is smaller. Male cerci smaller and more slender than in either of the above. Tegmina a bit shorter than either, usually with light stripes along top edges (when folded) as apposed to entirely light on top.
Range
North Carolina to Georgia
See Also
Melanoplus querneus
Melanoplus walshii
Contributed by john and jane balaban on 30 July, 2008 - 10:42pm
Additional contributions by David Ferguson
Last updated 2 March, 2021 - 3:38pm

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