marsh meadow grasshopper

(Pseudochorthippus curtipennis)

Conservation Status
marsh meadow grasshopper
Photo by Babette Kis
  IUCN Red List

not listed

 
  NatureServe

N5 - Secure

 
  Minnesota

not listed

 
           
           
           
           
           
           
           
 
Description
 
 

Marsh meadow grasshopper is a common, medium-small, stridulating, slantface grasshopper. It occurs in southern Canada and in the northern two-thirds of the United States. It is common throughout Minnesota. It is found from July through October or to the first frost in wet prairies, damp meadows, open woodlands, streamsides, roadside ditches, and moist depressions in fields (swales).

The female is to 1516 (15 to 24 mm) in length. The male is smaller, ½ to (13 to 15 mm) in length.

The top of the head is triangular when viewed from the side, narrowly angled on the male, more broadly angled on the female. The face is distinctly slanted. On the upper part of the forehead (fastigium), there is a small but distinct narrow, oblong impression (foveola) on each side. The foveolae are visible when viewed from above. The antennae are flattened near the base. On the female they are shorter than the length of the head and front part of the body (pronotum) combined. On the male they are longer and thickened.

The body is slender and compressed. The color is highly variable. The upper side is usually light brown. The pronotum is saddle-shaped, flat above with the sides abruptly angled downward. A black bar on each side extends from behind the compound eye across the top half of the side (lateral lobe) of the pronotum. The sides of the body, the face, and the lower half of the lobes of the pronotum may be green, brown, or gray. Each segment of the abdomen is banded with green and black. When viewed from the side, the sides of the body appear spotted with black. The underside of the abdomen is yellow.

The forewings (tegmina) are light brown, oval, and variable in length. They are about three-fourths the length of the abdomen on most females and reach the tip of the abdomen on most males, but they may be shorter or longer on either sex.

On the hind pair of legs, the outer face of the robust, third segment (femur) is not banded. The fourth segment (tibia) is usually yellow, rarely orange. It has a row of 12 or 13 spines on the outer margin. The spines, at least at the tip, are black. The “knees”, the end of the femur and base of the tibia, are black.

 
     
 

Size

 
 

Male: ½ to (13 to 15 mm)

Female: to 1516 (15 to 24 mm)

 
     
 

Similar Species

 
     
     
 
Habitat
 
 

Wet prairies, damp meadows, open woodlands, streamsides, roadside ditches, and swales

 
     
 
Biology
 
 

Season

 
 

July to October (CCESR)

 
     
 

Behavior

 
 

 

 
     
 

Life Cycle

 
 

 

 
     
 

Food

 
 

Grasses and sedges

 
     
 
Distribution
 
 

Distribution Map

 

Sources

19, 24, 27, 29, 30, 82, 83.

 
  2/17/2023      
         
 

Occurrence

 
 

Common throughout Minnesota

 
         
 
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

Gomphocerinae (stridulating slantface grasshoppers)  
 

Tribe

Gomphocerini  
 

Genus

Pseudochorthippus  
       
 

This species was formerly classified as Chorthippus curtipennis. A recent molecular phylogenetic analysis of the parallelus group of the genus Chorthippus (Default, 2012) showed that the group is closer to Omocestus and Stenobothrus than to Chorthippus, and proposed placing the group in the new genus Pseudochorthippus.

 
       
 

Subordinate Taxa

 
 

marsh meadow grasshopper (Pseudochorthippus californicus)

marsh meadow grasshopper (Pseudochorthippus curtipennis)

 
       
 

Synonyms

 
 

Chorthippus curtipennis

Locusta curtipennis

 
       
 

Common Names

 
 

marsh meadow grasshopper

marsh meadow locust

meadow grasshopper

short-winged brown 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.

 

Tegmen

The modified, leathery front wing of grasshoppers and related insects that protects the hindwing. It may also serve as a camouflage, a defensive display, or a sound board. Plural: tegmina.

 

Tibia

The fourth segment of an insect leg, after the femur and before the tarsus (foot).

 

Vertex

The upper surface of an insect’s head.

 

 

 

 

 
 
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Babette Kis

 
 

Chortihippus curtipennis marsh meadow grasshopper

  marsh meadow grasshopper  
           
 
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Marsh Meadow Grasshopper
Kingston Field Naturalists
  Marsh Meadow Grasshopper  

 

slideshow

       
 
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Other Videos
 
  Marsh Meadow Grasshopper (Chorthippus curtipennis) stridulating
Andalyne Tofflemire
 
   
 
About

May 19, 2016

Male marsh meadow grasshopper stridulating with legs and wings. Slant faced grasshopper subfamily Gomphocerinae. July 20 2013, Earl Rowe Provincial Park, Ontario.

 

 

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  Babette Kis
9/15/2022

Location: Barnes Prairie remnant, Racine Co., WI

 

marsh meadow grasshopper  
           
 
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Created: 2/17/2023

Last Updated:

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