Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Parapleurini Brunner von Wattenwyl, 1893
Mecostethi Blatchley, 1920
Mecostethini Hebard, 1924
Stethophyma Genus Group D. Otte, 1981
Ceracrinae X. Yin, 1984
Vichetini Harz, 1975
Very closely akin to, and perhaps not separable from the Old World tribe Epacromiini Brunner von Wattenwyl, 1893 [= Aiolopini Shumakov, 1963]
Identification
Appearance of a large Slant-faced Grasshopper, relatively smooth, often yellowish or greenish, face moderately slanted, most species living in lush meadowy or marshy environments. However, they are large in size, and males have the stridulatory file present on the tegmina as the roughened intercallary vein and adjacent veins. There are no pegs on the ridges of the inner hind femur. Gomphocerines that look similar are smaller, and those equally large are mostly considerably heavier in build with broader rounder heads, and have the reverse condition of tegmina and hind femur.
Range
Primarily Palaearctic, with only one genus, Stethophyma, represented in North America.
Remarks
This tribe has been recognized under several names and has been redefined a number of times. Members have mostly been considered as Oedipodines adapted to moist environments. However, especially in the United States, they have often been considered more closely related to various groups of Slant-faced Grasshoppers, particularly the Gomphocerinae. Several recent molecular studies show fairly conclusively that they are indeed members of the subfamily Oedipodinae, and most authors now follow this classification. They share with most other Oedipodinae a basic stridulatory apparatus with which sound is produced (in males and often females) by rubbing a ridge on the hind femur against a raised vein(s), crowned by a row of bumps ("stridulatory pegs"), on the tegmina. In Gomphocerinae (and some other groups) the reverse is true, with the equivalent pegs on the hind femur, and there is most often no intercallary vein present, or it is smooth.
