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Photo#975211
Chortophaga viridifasciata - male

Chortophaga viridifasciata - Male
Victoria, Victoria County, Texas, USA
August 4, 2014
Mites parasites on body, I suppose, otherwise I don't know where they came in the box where I have collected it for photos. (I didn't see the mites when I collected it.) I'm not exactly sure how they came in the box. With the grasshopper I have collected and two small debris of uncertain origin. Probably plant debris and I think it is very small probability to came from this debris. I think it's the first time I see such a mites associated with a grasshopper.

In night, attracted to light. But, curiously, the mites have spread in the box. Often they remain attached to the host.
The grasshopper had movements, flights and jumps, disordered hitting the wall. I saw frequently this in case of insects infected with mites parasites. Not necessarily but frequently the insects are very agitated in such situations.

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Chortophaga viridifasciata - male Chortophaga viridifasciata - male

Moved

The grasshopper is a male Chortophaga viridifasciata.
These look like the sort of mites that invest grasshoppers (and other insects), and they probably did come from the hopper. Not sure why they would abandon their host, but it is possible it is time for them leave their host to reproduce (they are basically grasshopper ticks), or maybe something about the conditions in the box caused it. They could easily have been hiding in the folded wings. They can be anywhere on the hopper, but the wings seem to be a favorite place, and often there are lots of them hiding on a single grasshopper.

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