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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 » Red-legged Grasshopper (Melanoplus femurrubrum)
Photo#234030
Melanoplus femurrubrum - Melanoplus femurrubrum - female
Copyright © 2008 Stephen Gingold

Melanoplus femurrubrum - Melanoplus femurrubrum - Female
Amherst, Hampshire County, Massachusetts, USA
October 12, 2008
Size: 1 1/2"
No idea if male or female.
tag · login or register to post comments
Contributed by Stephen Gingold on 16 October, 2008 - 2:28pm
Last updated 17 October, 2008 - 3:25am

It's a girl
It looks like you've got the species right, even though female Melanoplus are notoriously difficult to identify sometimes. You can tell it's female because the abdomen is basically pointed at the tip with the four ovipositor valves forming the point. The males are more slender, and have the tip of the abdomen more rounded, capped by the "subgenital plate". Also, in this and many related species the end of the abdomen is somewhat enlarged and bulbous looking.
… David J. Ferguson, 16 October, 2008 - 8:17pm login or register to post comments

 
Thanks David
I can't imagine I'll ever be able to carry around enough knowledge to go through all that in the field and ID gender correctly. :-) Thanks for sharing your expertise. I suppose if I start grabbing these insects and looking at their genitals it might help.
… Stephen Gingold, 17 October, 2008 - 3:24am login or register to post comments

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