Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada
 

Clickable Guide

Interactive image map to choose major taxa Moths Butterflies Flies Caterpillars Flies Dragonflies Flies Mantids Cockroaches Bees and Wasps Walkingsticks Earwigs Ants Termites Hoppers and Kin Hoppers and Kin Beetles True Bugs Fleas Grasshoppers and Kin Ticks Spiders Scorpions Centipedes Millipedes

Calendar

Upcoming Events

National Moth Week was July 19-27, and the Summer 2025 gathering in Louisiana, July 19-27

Photos of insects and people from the 2024 BugGuide gathering in Idaho July 24-27

Moth submissions from National Moth Week 2024

Photos of insects and people from the 2022 BugGuide gathering in New Mexico, July 20-24

Photos of insects and people from the Spring 2021 gathering in Louisiana, April 28-May 2

Photos of insects and people from the 2019 gathering in Louisiana, July 25-27

Species Melanoplus dawsoni - Dawson's Grasshopper

Representative Images

Melanoplus dawsoni - female Melanoplus dawsoni - female Buffalo Creek Hopper - Melanoplus dawsoni - female Melanoplus dawsoni? - Melanoplus dawsoni - female Melanoplus dawsoni - male Melanoplus dawsoni - female Melanoplus dawsoni - male Melanoplus dawsoni

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 dawsoni (Dawson's Grasshopper)

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

Melanoplus dawsoni (Scudder, 1875)

Identification

Rather similar to M. borealis and M. femurrubrum, but differing in details of subgenital plate of male, and usually considerably smaller. Wings are nearly always short. Underside is yellow, upper side dark, abdomen above usually appears striped.

Tip of male abdomen

Range

Rocky Mountains from New Mexico to se. British Columbia, and eastward across s. Canada and n. U.S.

Habitat

Mostly in lower mountains and broken terrain. Very common in parts of inland West. Usually in dry grassland in rocky areas, often associated with Pine forest or other open woodlands.

Food

Principally forbs.

See Also

Melanoplus dodgei

Internet References

Wyoming Agricultural Experiment Station
OSF
University of Alberta
Contributed by David J. Ferguson on 29 August, 2008 - 12:53am
Additional contributions by metrioptera, Tyler Hedlund
Last updated 12 October, 2022 - 11:41am

Disclaimer: Dedicated naturalists volunteer their time and resources here to provide this service. We strive to provide accurate information, but we are mostly just amateurs attempting to make sense of a diverse natural world. If you need expert professional advice, contact your local extension office.

Contributors own the copyright to and are solely responsible for contributed content.
Click the contributor's name for licensing and usage information.
Everything else copyright © 2003-2025 Iowa State University, unless otherwise noted.

Bugguide is hosted by:

Plant Pathology, Entomology and Microbiology at Iowa State University logo

Printer Friendly Version 		Terms of Use
Privacy Statement
Site Map
Contact