Forest locust

IUCN Red List

not listed

NatureServe

N5 - Secure

Minnesota

not listed

Forest locust is a small, flightless, spur-throated grasshopper. It occurs in North America in the United States from Pennsylvania to Virginia, west to Minnesota and Iowa, and in Canada from southern Quebec to southern Manitoba. Adults are found from July to September in moderately moist to moderately dry forests, on shaded edges, openings, and trails. Colonies are usually small and scattered. It has protected status in Wisconsin, where it is listed as a Special Concern species. It is not given protected status in Minnesota.

Forest locust is one of a group of five nearly identical species (Mancus Species Group) that can be distinguished only by their distribution and by details of the male reproductive structures.

The head is not large, but it is slightly wider than the exoskeletal plate covering the thorax (pronotum). The top of the head is rounded in profile. The face is nearly vertical and pale greenish or yellowish. The antennae are no more than one-half the length of the body. There is a well-developed black stripe behind each compound eye that continues through the pronotum to the second abdominal segment.

The body color is brownish to blackish above with some greenish below. The pronotum is saddle-shaped, flat above with the sides abruptly angled downward. The upper side is blackish-brown, the sides are pale greenish at the bottom. The rear margin is broadly rounded. There is a distinct, spiny bump (spur) below at the base of the neck, between the base of the forelegs.

A broad, pale, greenish or yellowish stripe on the upper side of the abdomen runs the length of the abdomen. There are no contrasting cross bands. The first abdominal segment has a pair of flat, round, hearing organs (tympani) on the sides. The sensory appendages at the end of the abdomen (cerci) are not boot shaped. On the female the ovipositor is short.

The forewings (tegmina) are uniformly dark, broadly rounded, and very short, not extending past the rear edge of the second abdominal segment. They are about three-fourths the length of the pronotum. The edges are not rolled inward. The inner edges at the base are well separated, 1⁄32″to ⅛″ (1 to 3 mm) apart. The hindwings are clear.

On the hind pair of legs, the fourth segment (tibia) is usually pinkish, sometimes bright red. On all of the legs, the end section corresponding to the foot (tarsus) has three segments.

Size

Male: ½″ to ⅝″ (13 to 15 mm)

Female: ⅝″ to ⅞″ (17 to 21 mm)

Similar Species

Forests edges and openings

Season

July to September

Behavior

Life Cycle

Eggs overwinter

Nymph Food

Adult Food