Species Chloealtis conspersa - Sprinkled Grasshopper

Sprinkled Broad-wing Grasshopper

Sprinkled Black-side Grasshopper

[name given to rare long-winged form]

This is a species with the face distinctly slanting and the head somewhat pointed. The top of the head has raised edges and a distinct raised mid-line on the fastigium, and the "lateral faveolae" to its front edge are not visible from directly above. The top of the pronotum has roughly parallel sides, not distinctly pinched in in the middle.

Chloealtis abdominalis is very similar, and the two species often occur together. That species, lacks the distinctly darkened sides of the bases of abdomen and inner hind femora. Male C. conspersa usually have the lateral lobes of the pronotum entirely blackish, while in C. abdominalis they are usually only blackish in the upper part. C. conspersa males often have the abdomen distinctly more reddish.

Dichromorpha viridis usually favors warmer, more open grassy habitats, but may sometimes be found in the same places. It is highly varied in color, but hind tibiae are not red or reddish; the bases of the abdomen and inner hind femur are usually not darkened, the sides of the male pronotum are rarely entirely blackish, nor the abdomen reddish; the antennae of adults are more slender; fastigium of adults usually has median ridge absent to inconspicuous; male front and middle femora are distinctly swollen in Dichromorpha; adult male tegmina are not broadly widened at the front (lower) edge; wings are often (not always) longer.

Northern U.S. and southern Canada, eastward from the Rocky Mountains. South in the Rockies as far as northern New Mexico.

Most often in grassy patches in old growth wooded areas where there is plenty of brush and old downed wood nearby. Often favors sides of steep gullies and partly shaded slopes.

Overwinters as eggs, apparently usually laid in old wood on or near ground; hatching in spring or early summer; with adults mostly from June to August, but with some living well into autumn.

Often most easily located by listening for the raspy song of males during the day.