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Mermiria Group - Toothpick Grasshoppers

Grasshopper - Mermiria bivittata - female Short Horned Grasshopper - Mermiria intertexta - female Mermiria sp? - Mermiria bivittata - female Short-winged Toothpick Grasshopper - Pseudopomala brachyptera Mermiria bivittata Mermiria bivittata Mermiria picta - male Arizona Grasshopper for ID - Mermiria texana - male
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 Gomphocerinae (Slant-faced Grasshoppers)
No Taxon Mermiria Group - Toothpick Grasshoppers
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
roughly equivalent to the tribe Mermiriini

group Mermiriae Brunner von Wattenwyl, 1893. Based on genus Mermiria Stål, 1873
tribe Achurimini; group Prorocoryphae G.E. Wixom, 1967. Based on genus Prorocorypha Rehn, 1911
tribe Achurimini; group Pseudopomalae G.E. Wixom, 1968. Based on genus Pseudopomala 1896
tribe Achurimini; group Mermiriae G.E. Wixom, 1968
Mermiria Genus Group, Otte 1981
Paropomala Genus Group, Otte 1981
tribe Mermirini ?Otte, 1995
Identification
All are very slender with a strongly slanting face. Hind legs are long and very slender and often held somewhat to strongly slanted sideways away from the body. Antennae are broadened and somewhat "sword-shaped". Front and middle legs tend to be proportionately short, sometimes dramatically so. There is a low roughly triangular tubercle between the base of the front legs on the prosternum.
Habitat
These grasshoppers tend to favor lush often rank and moist grassy areas. A few species found in arid habitats still tend to be associated with areas of bunch-grasses.
Remarks
All of the included species have a tendency to hide among grasses, and have the habit of circling around the far side of a stem from a perceived threat. Most will dive down into clumps of grass if forced to escape, but long-winged types can fly well also (usually into another clump of grass).

Even though there is a strong resemblance between genera in this group of genera, some of this may simply be due to convergence due to life style. There is some evidence that all may not actually be closely related to one-another, though relationships among the Gomphocerines need further study. Acantherus perhaps most different in appearance from the rest, but when compared with North American genera, seems to fit best into this group. It looks amazingly similar to some species of the Eurasian Phlaeobini.