Aposematic form

Classification · Range · Habitat · Food · Remarks · Print References

Can you help me ID this grasshopper? - Schistocerca lineata - female

yellow grasshopper - Schistocerca lineata - female

female Schistocerca lineata - Aposematic form - Schistocerca lineata - female

Could you kindly identify the katydid and grasshopper species? - Schistocerca lineata - male

Schistocerca lineata? - Schistocerca lineata

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 Cyrtacanthacridinae (Bird Grasshoppers)

Genus Schistocerca (Bird Grasshoppers)

Species lineata (Spotted Bird Grasshopper)

No Taxon Aposematic form

Range

Primarily in south and central Texas, northeastern Mexico, and sporadically north into Oklahoma.

Habitat

Mostly lush deciduous woody growth, particularly on Hop Tree Ptelea trifoliata.

Food

feeds primarily on common hoptree (Ptelea trifoliata, Rutaceae)

Remarks

This striking form has been mentioned a few times in literature as S. lineata or the synonym S. emarginata. Apparently they represent an aposematic population (brightly colored and chemically protected) that feeds primarily on Ptelea trifoliata.

Print References

Sword, G.A. 1998. Host plant use and density-dependent aposematism in Schistocerca (Orthoptera: Acrididae). PhD thesis, University of Texas, Austin, TX.

Sword, G.A. 2002. A role for phenotypic plasticity in the evolution of aposematism. Proc. R. Soc. Lond. B (2002) 269: 1639–1644. (Full Text)

Sword, G.A. and Dopman, E.B. 1999 Developmental specialization and geographic structure of host plant use in a polyphagous grasshopper, Schistocerca emarginata (= lineata) (Orthoptera: Acrididae). Oecologia 120: 437–445.

Contributed by David J. Ferguson on 21 October, 2008 - 12:23am
Additional contributions by Mike Quinn
Last updated 4 June, 2018 - 7:45am

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