Melanoplus femur rubrum
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Melanoplus femur rubrum |
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| ( De Geer , 1773) |
Melanoplus femurrubrum (English: "Red-legged Grasshopper" = "red-legged grasshopper") is a grasshopper from the family of grasshoppers (Acrididae).
features
The animals are 18 to 28 millimeters long. The underside of the body is yellow, the rails ( tibia ) of the hind legs are bright red. Instead, the rails are rarely colored yellowish-green or blue. The males can be identified by the bulbous subgenital plate and their cerci . The nymphs have a striking yellow and black pattern. The following features are characteristic of them: Their compound eyes are brown to wine-red and have light yellow or beige spots, of which more on the dorsal side and less ventrally . You are missing a sloping dark band. The front of the head has a dark, vertical band in the middle, which is bordered in light yellow on both sides. These yellow bands meet on the underside of the frontal plate ( clypeus ). There is a broad, pale yellow crescent moon on the cheeks, which continues on the lateral lobes of the pronotum to the first abdominal segment and then gradually fades over the rest of the abdomen. Dorsally, a pale yellow stripe runs centrally from the head to the end of the abdomen, with a broad black border on both sides. The lateral lobe of the pronotum bears a black band or a black spot below the yellow crescent. The thighs ( femora ) of the hind legs have a black stripe that is not interrupted by a pale band. The strip spans the entire upper and about a third or more of the lower medial area and is only missing at the (proximal) end of the thighs facing the body. The rails ( tibia ) of the hind legs are mainly pale yellow or pale gray and black in front. The tips of the thorns are also black.
Occurrence and habitat
Melanoplus femurrubrum occurs in large parts of North America and is only absent in the high mountains and the far north. The species is one of the most common types of grasshopper in North America. Among other things, the high vegetation of grasslands, meadows and the edges of fields and roads are populated. Preference is given to not very moist, herbaceous areas overgrown with their food plants.
Way of life
Adults occur from early summer to autumn. Although the species undertakes dispersal flights - especially in dry years when the animals develop larger wings, they fly more often and for longer - most individuals move only a little away from their place of hatching. The animals are diurnal and rest at night sitting on top of grass and herbaceous plants. Their activity begins around 6:30 a.m. and they start eating about half an hour later. Between 4.30 p.m. and 5 p.m. they climb back up the vegetation and then rest again from around 5.30 p.m. The flight of the locusts is nimble, steady and takes place about a meter above the vegetation. The animals fly distances of 90 to 120 meters at a time.
nutrition
The locusts feed on a large number of different tall shrubs and grasses. Among the known food plants include legumes such as birdsfoot trefoil ( Lotus ), White sweet clover ( Melilotus albus ), yellow sweet clover ( Melilotus officinalis ), bush clover ( Lespedeza ), Astragalus ( Astragalus ) and alfalfa ( Medicago sativa ), daisy family such as dandelion ( Taraxacum ) , Common chicory ( Cichorium intybus ), Canadian goldenrod ( Solidago canadensis ) and ( Ambrosia psilostachya ) and grasses such as bluegrass ( Poa pratensis ), barley ( Hordeum vulgare ), oats ( Avena ), wheat ( Triticum ), defenseless Trespe ( Bromus inermis ), Japanese bramble ( Bromus japonicus ), timothy grass ( Phleum pratense ) and reed grass ( Phalaris arundinacea ). Usually several plant species are eaten next to each other. Nymphs that are fed only one type of plant have a high mortality rate.
development
The females lay their eggs in an ootheca between grasses in the ground. The ootheca is clearly curved and 19 to 25 millimeters long. Its first third consists of dried foam, the lower two thirds contain 20 to 26 eggs. These are 4.1 to 4.4 millimeters long and have a pale yellow color. One generation occurs every year. The nymphs hatch about three weeks after Melanoplus bivittatus in late spring and early summer. Since the females lay their ootheca in different places in the habitat, which differ in temperature and humidity, the period lasts, while the nymphs hatch on average 52 days. The nymphs develop into adults in about 40 days.
Economical meaning
Melanoplus femurrubrum is considered a pest in agriculture. In the case of mass reproduction, which can result in 200 to 500 animals per square yard (about 0.84 m²), the species causes great damage to alfalfa , clover , soybean and cereals. It can completely destroy the second cut in clover and cause a harvest failure of 20 to 25% in individual grain fields. In the eastern United States and Canada, the species is also found on tobacco and vegetables, especially beans, beets, cabbage and potatoes. In the case of mass reproduction, the loss of forage grass in meadows should not be neglected.
supporting documents
Individual evidence
- ↑ Red-legged Grasshopper. R. Bercha: Insects of Alberta, accessed November 3, 2013 .
- ↑ a b c d e f Redlegged Grasshopper Melanoplus femurrubrum (DeGeer). United States Department of Agriculture, accessed November 3, 2013 .
