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Photo#437223
Trimerotropis latifasciata - male

Trimerotropis latifasciata - Male
Gloss Mountain State Park, Major County, Oklahoma, USA
July 3, 2010
Farily common on top of a red, flat-topped mesa on lichen-encrusted clay exposures in mixed-shortgrass prairie. I'm no grasshopper expert, but this looks very similar to the more greenish Trimerotropis saxatilis populations I've seen on igneous glades here in Missouri.

The added information definitely helps.
Only option for your area is T. latifasciata. The others don't make it that far east. T. citrina is related to, but usually on sand, and is never contrastingly patterned like this.

T. latifasciata is a composite of at least two different basic types (one eastern and one western). Some separate the Great Plains populations out as T. laticincta. This is probably of that type, but it's different enough looking that I think I might just take a drive to the Gloss Mountains and have a look. I found a unique related type near Carlsbad, NM that looks very similar, but odds are against it being the same.

For the time being, I'll move these to T. latifasciata.

Moved from Trimerotropis.

 
Thanks, David...
...I've become quite enamored with the Glass Mountains since I 'discovered' them last summer due to the many interesting tiger beetle species I've found there. I've made three trips since June 2009 and will probably visit again this fall.

I'm glad the additional info helped. I'll probably do a post about this on my website in the next few weeks and will credit your help.

Did you get any other photos?
Perhaps note the color of the hind tibiae? It could indeed be T. saxatilis, but could be another species in the same genus as well. It may be imagination, but it seems a bit long-winged and the antennae look to long and heavy for T. saxatilis. There aren't many species to choose from in western Oklahoma, but there are a few. T. latifasciata (or laticincta) can look very like the one in your photo, but has red hind tibiae, a wider black wing band, and is considerably larger in size. It likes flat expozed bare clay areas in grassland, but I'm not sure if it is as far east as Major County. Also, T. campestris can look just like this, again with red hind tibiae, but about the same size as T. campestris, generally in upland exposed grassland areas. However, I don't know if it is as far southeast as Major County. T. saxatilis is (as far as I've seen) always on exposed rock outcroppings, actually on the rocks. It has yellow hind tibiae, and I've never seen this strongly developed pinkish collared phase in it (but why not, most species have the collared phase, even if it's rare). T. saxatilis is found pretty much state-wide in Oklahoma.

 
Red hind tibia...
...not seen so well in this photo, but another (not as good) photo of a different individual, as well as one of a late-instar nymph shows the red color pretty well. Size seemed to be maybe a little but not significantly larger than saxatilis. They were on bare exposed clay area - not rock like saxatilis does here in Missouri.

Let me add those other photos and see what you think. They are all different individuals, so each will be a separate post.

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