Pallid-Winged Grasshoppers
Author: Ray Bowers

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Species: Pogonomyremex rugosus

Description:
The pallid-winged grasshopper is from31 to 41 mm(1.25 to 1.6inches) long. The body is gray to yellow-brown in color, and the back legs are enlarged. The front wings are the same color as the body and they are leathery in texture with one or two darker crossbands. The back wings are membranous pale yellow color with a dark band on the edge. The antennae are much shorter than the body. There are auditory organs on the abdomen.

Geographic range:
The pallid-winged grasshopper is found from British Columbia, Canada south to Chiapas, Mexico; and east to Montana, Kansas, and eastern Texas. It is found throughout New Mexico, and is active year round in the Jornada Basin.

Habitat:
The pallid-winged grasshopper is found in a wide range of habitats, but is especially prevalent in sparsely vegetated areas.

Food Web:
The pallid-winged grasshopper feeds on vegetation, and if the population is large it can be a pest on rangelands and crops. They are in turn fed upon by any predators large enough to catch them.

Reproduction and Development:
The female will deposit up to twelve egg masses with 100 eggs in each egg mass below the soil with her stiff ovipositor. Grasshoppers undergo simple or incomplete metamorphosis with the eggs overwintering and the nymphs emerging in the spring.

Behavior:
The pallid winged grasshopper is diurnal. When resting their coloration makes them difficult to see, but when disturbed, they take flight with a clicking sound showing their back wings. This can be rather startling, and probably helps them escape predators. Upon landing the back wings are folded under the front wings and they again blend in with the environment. The males “sing” or stridulate during the day by rubbing their back legs against the front wings. This “song” varies from one species to the next, and may be used to attract females. The “song” also varies with the temperature of the environment and in the presence of other males.

Ecosystem roles:
The pallid-winged grasshopper is a herbivore, and if the population is large can be very destructive on the plant community. They in turn provide a source of food for a wide variety of insect eating animals.

Taxonomy:

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Subphylum: Atelocerata
Class: Hexapoda
Order: Orthoptera
Family: Acrididae
Genus: Aphonopelma
Species: Trimeroptropis pallidipenniss

References:
Borror, Donald J. and Richard E. White. 1970. A Field Guide to the Insects of America North of Mexico. Boston : Houghton Mifflin Co.

Barnes, Robert D. 1980. Invertebrate Zoology. Philadelphia : W. B. Saunders Co.

Borror, Donald J., Charles A. Triplehorn, and Norman F. Johnson. 1989. An Introduction to the Study of Insects. Philadelphia: W. B. Saunders Co.

Bland, Roger G and H. E. Jaques.1978. How to Know Insects. Dubuque , Iowa : Wm. C. Brown Co.

Larson, Peggy and Lane Larson. 1977. The Deserts of the Southwest. San Francisco : Sierra Club Books.

New Mexico Game & Fish. 2002. Pallid-winged Grasshopper, Trimerotropis pallidipennis Biota Information System of New Mexico . www.fw.vt.edu/fishex/nmex_main/species/121640.htm

MacMahon. James A.1985. Deserts. New York : Alfred A Knopf, Inc.

Werner, Floyd and Carl Olson. 1994. Insects of the Southwest. Fisher Books, LLC.

Related Terms: Hexopoda, Insects