Identification, Images, & Information
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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Grasshoppers, Crickets, Katydids (Orthoptera) » Grasshoppers (Caelifera) » Short-horned Grasshoppers (Acrididae) » Slant-faced Grasshoppers (Gomphocerinae) » Aulocara Group » Aulocara » Big-headed Grasshopper (Aulocara elliotti)

Species Aulocara elliotti - Big-headed Grasshopper

Idaho grasshopper - Aulocara elliotti - female Big-headed Grasshopper - Aulocara elliotti Aulocara elliotti - female Grasshopper - Aulocara elliotti - male Aulocara elliotti - female Aulocara elliotti - male Big-headed Grasshopper - Aulocara elliotti - female Aulocara elliotti - male
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 Gomphocerinae (Slant-faced Grasshoppers)
No Taxon (Aulocara Group)
Genus Aulocara
Species elliotti (Big-headed Grasshopper)
Identification
A fairly variable species. Typically with a pale "X" on the pronotum, though it may be partial or faded.


Hind femur with two black bands, visible from above. Hind tibia blue. Wings extend beyond the tip of the abdomen. Does indeed seem to have a big head.
Range
Western half of the US, southern Canada, and north-central Mexico(1)
Habitat
Short-grass prairie with some patches of bare ground(1)
Season
July-September(1)
See Also
A. femoratum looks similar, but wings are shorter than the tip of the abdomen.
Works Cited
1.The North American Grasshoppers, volume I, Acrididae, Gomphocerinae and Acridinae
Daniel Otte. 1981. Harvard.
Contributed by David J. Ferguson on 30 September, 2008 - 7:46pm
Additional contributions by Tyler Hedlund
Last updated 20 September, 2019 - 9:17am

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