Montana Field Guide

The following is taken from Hebard (1928), Helfer (1971), Otte (1984), Capinera and Sechrist (1982), Vickery and Kevan (1985), McDaniel (1987), Capinera et al. (2004), Kirk and Bomar (2005), Brust et al. (2008), and Scott (2010). Some of the early literature lists this species as Hippiscus rugossus. The species’ name was changed to H. ocelote in the 1980’s. This is a large, heavy bodied grasshopper. The body color is brown or grayish brown. The forewings (tegmina) have large dark spots and a light band which, when folded and viewed dorsally, converge into a V-shape. The hind wing basal disk can be pale yellow, pinkish, or orangish, bearing a dark narrow, central crossband with the spur extending about two-thirds distance toward the wing base, the tip is transparent. The pronotum (thorax) is rough and wrinkled (hence its name), and often has a light X-shaped mark dorsally, especially in males. The outer face of the hind femur bear two to three oblique dark crossbands. The inner face is pale to yellow with three black bands and knee. The hind tibia is yellow with a pale area at the base.

Communicative behavior/Crepitation*
This species is not known to crepitate nor perform flight displays. Aggressive displays among males includes femur tipping and shaking (Otte 1970, Vickery and Kevan 1985).

This species overwinters in the egg stage. Nymphs occur in mid-June and are present to late August. Adults can be found from July to November, and most common from September to November. This is one of the last grasshoppers to disappear in autumn (Capinera and Sechrist 1982, and Scott 2010).

The following comes from Hebard (1928), Helfer (1971), Capinera and Sechrist (1982), Otte (1984), Vickery and Kevan (1985), McDaniel (1987), Capinera et al. (2004), Kirk and Bonner (2005), Brust et al. (2008), and Scott (2010). The body length to the end of the forewings is 28-40 mm for males, and females 39-54 mm.

The Wrinkled Grasshopper can be easily confused with the Red-shanked Grasshopper (Xanthippus corallipes) (refer to that species for diagnostic comparisons) (Capinera et al. 2004, and Scott 2010).

This species inhabits prairies, pastures, open woodlands, along roadsides, alfalfa fields, almost any grassy area within its geographic range (Otte 1970, Vickery and Kevan 1985, and Capinera et al. 2004).

The Wrinkled Grasshopper feeds almost entirely on grasses consisting of wheatgrass, Little Bluestem (Schizachyrium scoparium), Side-oats Grama (Bouteloua curtipendula), Blue Gramma (Bouteloua gracilis) (especially consumed by nymphs), bluegrass, needle-and-thread (Stipa comata), Thread-leaved Sedge (Carex filifolia), Japanese Brome (Bromus japonicus), and Lead Plant (Amorpha canescens) (Capinera and Sechrist 1982, Vickery and Kevan 1985, and Brust et al. 2008).

During courtship, an approaching male may or may not stridulate before attempting to mount. When they do mount, the male rapidly taps the female’s head and sometimes makes pronounced lateral head-rocking movements. Little else has been reported in the literature regarding the reproductive cycle of this species (Otte 1970, 1984).