Montana Field Guide

The following is taken from Hebard (1928), Capinera and Sechrist (1982), Otte (1984), Vickery and Kevan (1985), McDaniel (1987), Capinera et al. (2004), Brust et al. (2008), and Scott (2010). This is a medium-sized, large-headed, small-eyed grasshopper. Its body color is a sandy tan to brown. The lateral lobe of the pronotum (thorax) is conspicuously marked with a dark, oblique stripe which fades at the top. The median ridge of the pronotum is elevated and cut by two sulci (grooves) forming high knobs anteriorly. A dark stripe, which can be faint or absent, on the head angles from the front of the eye to the front of the face below the antenna socket. The tegmina (forewings) is sometimes darker than the body, and bear two bands, fading dorsally, one at the base of the hind femur, the other at the middle. The disk of the hind wings can be pale yellow, orangish, or pinkish, with a dark, spurred band and transparent tip. The wings are long, extending beyond the abdominal tip. The inner face of the hind femur is black with a pale ring before the black knee. The hind tibia can be yellow-brown or blue.

Communicative behavior/Crepitation*
This species is not known to perform courtship flights, nor crepitate. Femur-tipping, femur-shaking, and ground-striking are performed during male aggression encounters. When courting a female, a male will employ femur-tipping and stridulation.* Flight is swift and low above the ground (Otte 1970, 1984, and Vickery and Kevan 1985).

*Crepitation is the sound produced by grasshoppers making a clicking or snapping noise with their wings when in flight, during courtship, territorial encounters or being disturbed.

*Stridulation is rubbing one body part against another, usually the hind femur against the forewing in the case of the Band-winged Grasshoppers. This is often used for attracting a female during courtship (Otte 1970).

This species overwinters in the egg stage. Adults occur from July through September (Otte 1984, Vickery and Kevan 1985, Capinera et al. 2004, and Scott 2010).

The following comes from Hebard (1928), Capinera and Sechrist (1982), Otte (1984), Vickery and Kevan (1985), McDaniel (1987), Capinera et al. (2004), Brust et al. (2008), and Scott (2010). The body length to end of forewings is 22-32 mm for males, and 27-40 mm for females.

The Platte Range Grasshopper is fairly easy to recognize, but could be confused with Derotmema, Metator and certain Trimerotropis species (Capinera et al. 2004).

This species inhabits rocky areas and outcrops with sparse vegetation, scattered, stunted trees and shrubs (Otte 1984, Vickery and Kevan 1985, and Capinera et al. 2004).

The food habits of the Platte Range Grasshopper are poorly known but it has been observed feeding on shrubs and Four-wing Saltbush (Atriplex canescens) (Capinera and Sechrist 1982).

Pair formation occurs by males approaching moving females on the ground and stridulate while approaching one to three times. The sound pulses are sometimes produced on both the upstroke and downstroke which result in two closely spaced pulses on each stroke, usually the sound is produced only on the downstroke. No further information relative to copulation, oviposition, nymphal instar development, etc. has been found in the literature. The Platte Range Grasshopper is a poorly understood species (Otte 1970, 1984, and Vickery and Kevan 1985).