Graceful grasshopper
(Melanoplus gracilis)
Conservation • Description • Habitat • Ecology • Distribution • Taxonomy
Conservation Status |
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| IUCN Red List | not listed |
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| NatureServe | N5 - Secure |
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| Minnesota | not listed |
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Description
Graceful grasshopper is a small spur-throated grasshopper.
There is a black lateral stripe behind the eye that continues across the upper thoracic shield (pronotum). The lower half of the pronotum is white.
The abdomen has bold black markings.
The wings are rounded, very short, and widely separated. They do not overlap over the back.
The forelegs and midlegs are green. The third segment of the hind leg (femur) is green with no dark markings.
Size
Similar Species
Habitat
Shrubby areas of moderatley moist woodlands, thickets, old fields
Ecology
Season
Mid July to early October
Behavior
Life Cycle
Eggs overwinter
Nymph Food
Shoots and other easily digested parts of the same plants that adults feed on.
Adult Food
Leaves of grasses and grassy agricultural plants.
Distribution |
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Sources Haarstad, J. 1990. The Acrididae of Minnesota. Final report submitted to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. 28 pp. Hebard, Morgan. (1932). The Orthoptera of Minnesota. University of Minnesota. Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station. Retrieved from the University of Minnesota Digital Conservancy, https://hdl.handle.net/11299/204015. |
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| 10/4/2025 | ||
Occurrence |
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Taxonomy
Order
Orthoptera (grasshoppers, crickets, and katydids)
Suborder
Caelifera (grasshoppers, locusts, and allies)
Infraorder
Acrididea (grasshoppers)
Superfamily
Acridoidea (short-horned grasshoppers and locusts)
Family
Acrididae (short-horned grasshoppers)
Subfamily
Melanoplinae (spur-throated grasshoppers)
Tribe
Melanoplini
Genus
Subordinate Taxa
Synonyms
Pezotettix gracilis
Pezotettix minutipennis
Common Names
graceful grasshopper
graceful narrow-winged locust
graceful spur-throat grasshopper
slender spur-throat grasshopper
Glossary
Femur
On insects and arachnids, the third, largest, most robust segment of the leg, coming immediately before the tibia. On humans, the thigh bone.
Pronotum
The exoskeletal plate on the upper side of the first segment of the thorax of an insect.
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Cary Coop
9/19/2019
Location: Jabs farm site, Louisville swamp unit, Jordan, MN
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