Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Chortophaga australior Rehn & Hebard, 1911. Type locality: Key West, Florida
Chortophaga viridifasciata australior (Rehn & Hebard) Blatchley, 1920
Explanation of Names
Often listed as a distinct species, but intergrades northward with var. viridifasciata; so, species level distinction of australior is untenable.
Identification
From "Grasshoppers of Florida"
(1):
"There are two color forms present in this species, a green form:
...and a brown form:
...with intermediates found in both sexes. The principal difference between forms is found in the coloring of the head, thorax, and outer face of the hind femora. The median ridge on the pronotum is slightly elevated. An X-shaped mark is present on the dorsal surface of the pronotum in the brown forms.
The leading edge of the forewings is marked with 2–3 large green or light brown spots, with the balance of the forewings colored dark brown. The most important distinguishing character of this species is the color of the hind wing. Unlike Florida’s other bandwinged species, southern greenstriped grasshopper lacks a bold, black, transverse band on the hind wing. The black band is present, but greatly muted, reduced to no more than a smoky area in many individuals. Similarly, the yellow in the basal area of the hind wing is muted to absent:
The upper surface of the hind femora usually is marked with about 3 large dark spots; the central or largest spot is triangular when viewed from above. The hind tibiae are brown or bluish green."
Range
Primarily on the Coastal Plain from North Carolina to Texas. This is the only subspecies found in Florida
Habitat
as for the species
"Old fields, heavily grazed pastures and edges of crop fields and roadways."
(1)Food
Probably primarily favors grasses, but in captivity will feed on a wide variety of herbaceous dicots and monocots.
Life Cycle
Northward overwinters as nymphs with first adults in late winter or early spring. There are two or more additional generations per year, with the second generation maturing sometime in late June or early July and with broods becoming ill-defined and overlapping toward autumn. All stages may be found year-round in Florida, but with nymphs prevalent in winter.
Remarks
Distinction from subspecies viridifasciata is somewhat arbitrary, and based primarily on coloration, though coastal plain populations tend to have a shorter pronotum less acutely pointed at the rear above, shorter wings, and are fairly consistantly more strongly patterned (except some green individuals which may be plain in pattern). A line of demarcation does not exist, and there is a broad blending of the southern type with the northern type across much of the eastern United States. Summer generations of ssp. viridifasciata are often patterned like australior, even as far north as Nebraska and the Ohio Valley, and may even tend to be morphologically more like australior than is the first spring generation of ssp. viridifasciata adults.
Internet References
Orthoptera of North-Eastern America
(2)
Orthoptera Species File - Here
australior treated as a separate species.
Brust, Mathew L., W. Wyatt Hoback, Robert J. Wright, 2008.
'A Review of the Genus Chortophaga. . . . . ', Journal of Orthoptera Research 17(1).
Try the "Grasshoppers of Florida" key/pdf file
(3) for identification of southeastern species including
C. australior.
Giff Beaton has additional photos of
C. australior identified by John Capinera (author of "Grasshoppers of Florida"
(1)
The
North Carolina State Insect Collection has 38 pinned specimens of
C. australior.
