Genus Romalea - Lubber Grasshoppers

Romalea Serville, 1831. Genotype: Acridium micropterum Beauvois

Rhomalea Saussure, 1859 [alternate spelling for the same name]

Author of genus is Serville, 1831. New Latin, properly Rhomalea, from Greek ρωμαλεοσ, strong of body, from ρωμη, bodily strength (1).

There is just one North American species in this genus, the Eastern Lubber Grasshopper, Romalea microptera; synonym Romalea guttata (2).

No other species within this one's distribution is likely to be confused with Romalea microptera. So far Romalea microptera and the closely related and similar Horse Lubber - Taeniopoda eques have not been found in the same region, but they could meet in southern Texas, where the two could be confused. Taeniopoda has a higher, more pronounced median ridge on the pronotum, and in the U.S. rarely occurs in any color other than black. See species account for Taeniopoda eques.

Taeniopoda eques and Romalea microptera have been hybridized in the laboratory, producing intermediate offspring (Stauffer & Whitman 2007). There is little basis for Taeniopoda being considered as a distinct genus, but for the time being it is.