As you look at this name of the heading above, you are probably thinking, what in the world does Chorthippus paallelus mean? Well that is just the scientific name of my insect. My insect’s common name is the meadow grasshopper. You may think it is just like the common grasshopper that you can hear and may even see in your back yard, but there are many different features that set this insect apart from regular grasshoppers. One is its size and description, two are its habit and range; three is where they live, what they eat, and their predators.

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The general size of the adult female meadow grass hoppers body length is 21.5-21.8 mm. the Hind Femur Length of the adult female meadow grasshopper is 11.5-12.1 mm. the number of antennal segments for the adult female meadow grasshopper is 23-25. The general size for adult male grasshoppers body length is 15.3-16 mm. the hind femurlength of the male adult meadow grasshopper is 9.6-10 mm. and last but not least the antennal segments for the adult male grasshopper is 23-26. That is both of the grasshopper’s general size.

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The coloration for my insect the meadow grasshopper is the sides of their body are green, tan, or fuscous. The underside of them is yellow or tan. The head is slanted. The antennae are filiform and become thick and black at the ends. The lateral foveolae are visible when you look at them from up top. The Wings of the male grasshopper are long and sometimes even reaching the end of the abdomen. Wings of the female are short, covering half of the stomach usually. The medial area of the hind femur is tan or brown and the knees of the female’s legs are black. The tiba of the grasshopper is red, Or sometimes even orange or yellow.

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The meadow grasshoppers are identifiable by their shape, external structures, and color pattern. The meadow grasshopper is a widespread species in western and northern states and in Canada. From all of the large spread species, the meadow grasshopper is the only one that inhabits the Nearctic region. Habits of the meadow grasshopper include strands of tall lush grasses growing in hayfield, pastures, swales, roadsides, mountains & meadows, or along edges of ponds. The meadow grasshopper also lives in the moist mountains of Colorado. The meadow grasshopper does well in a grasses and moist ecosystem. It does well in a grass ecosystem because the grass strands are mainly moist. The ecosystem also includes the moutons, roadsides and ponds.

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The population of the meadow grasshopper has fluctuateted between 0.1 and 1.4 grasshoppers per square yard, during the years of (2002-2003) in the sand prairie of eastern North Dakota. The low point of the population occurred in 2004 when flooding of the habitat shortly after hatching destroyed many of the baby grasshoppers. The population then recovered at rates of two to three folds for three years, until the eggs peaked at 1.4 grasshoppers per square yard. The density remained at this level in 2005 then decreased to 0.8 and 0.7 grasshopper per square yard the next two years. Over all the population of the meadow grasshoppers is increasing.

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What is contributing to this growing change is the fast process of laying eggs that the mother grasshoppers are doing. The meadow grasshopper feed on many different kind of grasses and sedges. The animals and incest’s that the meadow grasshopper has to compete with is mice, eagles, hawks. And many other incest such, and caterpillars and beetles. What allows them to compete for food is the lush and populated grass environment they live in. There role in the food web is to feed mice eagles and hawks. Also to feed spiders, lizards, snakes and bee’s and wasps, and also the common frog.

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As you may already know the meadow grasshopper is quite small so you can probably guess that they have many predators. Well if you did then you are right. Because of the lush and green grass areas the meadow grasshoppers lives in, animals with poor eye sight usually can’t spot them from a distance. This is because there distinct green color blends in with the green grass. But there are many predators they can not hide from. There most common predators are bees and wasps, the common frog, the common lizard, the grass snake, spider’s harvestmen and the wood mouse. Those where the main predators there are also the eagles and hawks.

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What’s stood out as I was researching about my animal was its color. I learned many things about my animal, for example I learned its habit and range. That was quite interesting. Some interesting facts about my insect the meadow grasshopper is they commutate in sound to warn there other members of there area if danger is about.

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Author: Nicole C

Published: 03/2008

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Sources: http://www.sidney.ars.usda.gov/grasshopper/ID_Tools/F_Sheets/ meadow Chorthippus parallelus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Orchelimum agile (Agile Meadow Grasshopper, Agile Meadow Grasshopper, Agile Meadow Katydid)

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Photo Credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meadow_grasshopper