Grasshopper seen in area with typically few sightings
Observation from Stephen Payton:
Found a grasshopper while hiking in the mountains. Have seen these reported in other places but never heard of them or seen them around Seldovia.
Jessie Moan, Forest Health Technician at the UAF Cooperative Extension Service, writes:
Unfortunately I can't confirm this ID based on the pictures. We have several species of grasshoppers, and they can have similar characteristics. There are two records of grasshoppers from near Seldovia, one for Aeropedellus arcticus and one for Melanoplus sanguinipes. A clearer close up picture or a specimen would be best for species-level ID. We don't see tons of grasshoppers in Alaska in the same way that other locations do, so it could just be a general lucky find.
Comments from LEO Editors:
Overall, grasshoppers tend to favor open habitats like meadows, tundra, clearings, bogs, or flood plains. Grasshopper species in North America spend their first winter as eggs, either dying the next season or spending another winter as hoppers. Grasshopper population can be affected by the duration and average temperature of the warm season, along with other factors such as resource availability and plant diversity, escape space, and predators.
Sources:
- Locusts and Grasshoppers: Behavior, Ecology, and Biogeography, Alexandre Latchininsky, Gregory Sword, Michael Sergeev, Maria Marta Cigliano, and Michel Lecoq Volume 2011, Article ID 578327, 4 pages
- Distribution Patterns of Grasshoppers and Their Kin in the Boreal Zone, Michael G. Sergeev Volume 2011, Article ID 324130, 9 pages
Both papers available here. Erica Lujan
Observations From Members