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Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Hexapods (Hexapoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Grasshoppers, Crickets, Katydids (Orthoptera) » Grasshoppers (Caelifera) » Lubber Grasshoppers (Romaleidae) » Lubber Grasshoppers (Romalea) » Eastern Lubber Grasshopper (Romalea microptera)
Photo#94093
Romalea microptera - male - female
Copyright © 2007 David Gracer

Romalea microptera - Male Female
Fakahatchee Strand State Preserve, Collier County, Florida, USA
January 7, 2007
Size: roughly 4-5 inches
These were identified as Romalea microptera by Douglas Whitman of Illinois State University. He had a lot to say about this subject; that it indicates life history traits and that there's a certain amount of disagreement about whether adult lubbers can and do survive the winter in Florida.
Over the course of several visits to Fakahatchee over a four-day period I observed roughly 25 adult lubbers; I had assumed they were R.guttata, but evidently not. There appears to be no guide page for microptera.
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Contributed by David Gracer on 28 January, 2007 - 4:12pm
Last updated 20 February, 2007 - 6:41pm

Our understanding is that these
are two different names for the same creature. guttata is the current name with microptera placed in synonymy. But we would be eager to hear from some of the experts.
… john and jane balaban, 28 January, 2007 - 5:38pm login or register to post comments

 
Don't Know How 'Expert' This Is...
...but if you look for Romalea microptera over at Wikipedia, a popular web encyclopedia, you'll be redirected to the R. guttata entry. At the end of the article they note:

'It was previously known as Romalea microptera (Beauvois) [2].

[2] ^Kevan, D.K.M. (1980). Romalea guttata (Houttyun), name change for well-known "Eastern lubber grasshopper" (Orthoptera: Romaleidae). Entomol. News 91, 139-140.'
… Heimchen, 28 January, 2007 - 6:40pm login or register to post comments

 
This must be what they call 'Hubris'
Thanks for your replies and clarification. Whitman, the expert I'd spoken with, confirmed that it is indeed a simple name change from guttata to microptera. Amusing that I thought this would be a new species to BG, given that Florida entomofauna is well-represented, and this species so robust.
But I'll keep trying. After all, there aren't many pictures of Florida lubbers taken in January.
… David Gracer, 29 January, 2007 - 6:24am login or register to post comments

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