More Information

Additional Information

Chortophaga viridifasciataGreen-striped Grasshopper

By Deena Hauze

Geographic Range

Chortophaga viridifasciata, commonly known as green-striped grasshoppers, are found throughout North America. Their range stretches from New Brunswick and Georgia west to Arizona, Saskatchewan, and British Columbia. They may be found in Mexico and as far south as Costa Rica. They may be found in isolated colonies west of the Rockies in areas used for agriculture. (Brust, et al., 2008)

Habitat

Green-striped grasshoppers prefer living in moist habitats. They can be found near roadsides, hay meadows, pastures, and sunny areas of grass. They can be found in many moist, sunny, grassy areas in the eastern parts of their range. Their habitats are less common in the western parts of their range due to their preference for moist habitats. (Brust, et al., 2008; Coin, 2005)

Physical Description

Green-striped grasshoppers are between 23-38 mm in length. Males are 23-30 mm, while the larger females are 28-38 mm in length. Some may be tan in color. Males are often brown in color and females are often green. Males have larger heads and thicker legs. Females have thicker, longer abdomens compared to males. They have yellowish wings that are smokey near the tips. They have a green or brown stripe close to the border of their front wings. Their pronota are ridged. Green-striped grasshoppers have compound eyes and antennae that are brownish in color. Nymphs in their first three instars are green in color. (Coin, 2005)

Southern populations have bolder patterns. They may have dark bars stretching across their front wings and hind femora. The smokey color near the tips of their wings is darker than those from northern populations. (Coin, 2005)

  • Sexual Dimorphism
  • female larger
  • sexes colored or patterned differently
  • sexes shaped differently

Development

Green-striped grasshoppers have a well-synchronized development, with most individuals passing through life stages in parallel. Females lay eggs in the spring. Most eggs hatch within a two week period in the middle of July. Nymphs grow slowly in the northern part of their range. They pass through five instars of development. They may take up to 100 days to reach their fourth instars. A large number of nymphs enter their fifth instar before overwintering while in hibernation. Unlike differential grasshoppers, green-striped grasshoppers do not undergo diapause. Nymphs become active again in March. Green-striped grasshoppers undergo incomplete metamorphosis in early April to become adults. (Brust, et al., 2008; Hall Bodine, 1932; Pfadt, 1994)

Reproduction

Males make a crepitous sound to attract potential mates. Interested females approach males by flying and returning the crackling call. The pair walks and hops towards each other as a courtship ritual. After mating, the female will dig a hole and lay the eggs pods inside of it. Each egg pod contains 25 eggs. (Brust, et al., 2008; Pfadt, 1994)

  • Breeding interval
    Green-striped grasshoppers breed yearly.
  • Parental Investment
  • no parental involvement

Lifespan/Longevity

Adults can be found during the spring and summer in the northern part of their range. They can be found all through the year in the southern part of their range. Green-striped grasshoppers are single-brooded. In the southeast, they may have multiple broods per year. In the far south, adults may be found year-round. (Coin, 2005)

Green-striped grasshoppers overwinter in their nearly-mature nymphal stage, unlike many other species of grasshoppers. (Coin, 2005; Hall Bodine, 1932)

Behavior

Green-striped grasshoppers are mobile in their nymphal and adult stages. They live in large groups. Adults are very strong fliers. (Coin, 2005)

Communication and Perception

Differential grasshoppers have compound eyes. They likely use tactile, visual, and chemical channels of perception. Tactile, visual, and chemical methods of communication are possible. (Pfadt, 1994)

Food Habits

Green-striped grasshoppers mostly eat grasses and succulent plants. They feed on plants species like Kentucky bluegrass, foxtail barley, quackgrass, little bluestem, junegrass, needleleaf sedge, Penn sedge, European sticktight, orchardgrass, poverty oatgrass, annual sowthistle, Johnsongrass, grazing brome, and members of the genus western wheatgrass. (Coin, 2005; Pfadt, 1994)

Green-striped grasshoppers feed on the edge of leaves about halfway up. They may eat through the leaf, hold on to the cut part, and feed it into their mouthparts. (Coin, 2005; Pfadt, 1994)

  • Plant Foods
  • leaves

Predation

Bristle flies, flesh-eating flies, and parasitic wasps are parasitoids that prey on nymphs and adults. (Coin, 2005; Pfadt, 1994)

Ecosystem Roles

Green-striped grasshoppers eat many types of plants, including grasses, crop plants, and succulents. Bristle flies, flesh-eating flies, and parasitic wasps are parasitoids that prey on nymphs and adults. (Amand and Cloyd, 1954; Coin, 2005)

Commensal/Parasitic Species

Economic Importance for Humans: Negative

In the eastern part of the United States, green-striped grasshoppers may damage pastures, hayfields, and crops like red clover. They typically damage crops minimally. (Pfadt, 1994)

  • Negative Impacts
  • crop pest

Conservation Status

Contributors

Deena Hauze (author), Animal Diversity Web Staff.

Glossary

Nearctic

living in the Nearctic biogeographic province, the northern part of the New World. This includes Greenland, the Canadian Arctic islands, and all of the North American as far south as the highlands of central Mexico.

World Map

acoustic

uses sound to communicate

agricultural

living in landscapes dominated by human agriculture.

bilateral symmetry

having body symmetry such that the animal can be divided in one plane into two mirror-image halves. Animals with bilateral symmetry have dorsal and ventral sides, as well as anterior and posterior ends. Synapomorphy of the Bilateria.

chemical

uses smells or other chemicals to communicate

diapause

a period of time when growth or development is suspended in insects and other invertebrates, it can usually only be ended the appropriate environmental stimulus.

ectothermic

animals which must use heat acquired from the environment and behavioral adaptations to regulate body temperature

folivore

an animal that mainly eats leaves.

herbivore

An animal that eats mainly plants or parts of plants.

marsh

marshes are wetland areas often dominated by grasses and reeds.

metamorphosis

A large change in the shape or structure of an animal that happens as the animal grows. In insects, "incomplete metamorphosis" is when young animals are similar to adults and change gradually into the adult form, and "complete metamorphosis" is when there is a profound change between larval and adult forms. Butterflies have complete metamorphosis, grasshoppers have incomplete metamorphosis.

motile

having the capacity to move from one place to another.

native range

the area in which the animal is naturally found, the region in which it is endemic.

oviparous

reproduction in which eggs are released by the female; development of offspring occurs outside the mother's body.

seasonal breeding

breeding is confined to a particular season

sexual

reproduction that includes combining the genetic contribution of two individuals, a male and a female

social

associates with others of its species; forms social groups.

swamp

a wetland area that may be permanently or intermittently covered in water, often dominated by woody vegetation.

tactile

uses touch to communicate

temperate

that region of the Earth between 23.5 degrees North and 60 degrees North (between the Tropic of Cancer and the Arctic Circle) and between 23.5 degrees South and 60 degrees South (between the Tropic of Capricorn and the Antarctic Circle).

tropical savanna and grassland

A terrestrial biome. Savannas are grasslands with scattered individual trees that do not form a closed canopy. Extensive savannas are found in parts of subtropical and tropical Africa and South America, and in Australia.

savanna

A grassland with scattered trees or scattered clumps of trees, a type of community intermediate between grassland and forest. See also Tropical savanna and grassland biome.

temperate grassland

A terrestrial biome found in temperate latitudes (>23.5° N or S latitude). Vegetation is made up mostly of grasses, the height and species diversity of which depend largely on the amount of moisture available. Fire and grazing are important in the long-term maintenance of grasslands.

visual

uses sight to communicate

References

Amand, W., W. Cloyd. 1954. Parasitism of the Grasshopper, Chortophaga viridifasciata (Degeer) (Orthoptera: Locustidae), by Dipterous Larvae. The Journal of Parasitology, 40(1): 83-87. Accessed July 03, 2020 at https://www.jstor.org/stable/3274260.

Brust, M., W. Hoback, R. Wright. 2008. A Review of the Genus Chortophaga (Orthoptera: Acrididae) Among Nebraska Populations: Questioning the Validity of Chortophaga australior Rehn and Hebard. Journal of Orthoptera Research, 17(1): 101-105. Accessed July 03, 2020 at https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1162&context=entomologyfacpub.

Coin, P. 2005. "Species Chortophaga viridifasciata - Green-striped Grasshopper" (On-line). Bug Guide. Accessed July 03, 2020 at https://bugguide.net/node/view/16145.

Hall Bodine, J. 1932. Hibernation and Diapause in Certain Orthoptera. II. Response to Temperature during Hibernation and Diapause. Physiological Zoology, 5(4): 538-548. Accessed July 03, 2020 at http://www.jstor.com/stable/30151184.

Niedzlek-Feaver, M. 1995. Crepitation, Pair Formation, and Female Choice in Chortophaga viridifasciata (DeGeer) (Orthoptera: Acrididae). Journal of Orthoptera Research, 4: 131-142. Accessed July 03, 2020 at https://www.jstor.org/stable/3503468.

Pfadt, R. 1994. "Greenstriped Grasshopper Chortophaga viridifasciata (DeGeer)" (On-line). Grasshopper Species Fact Sheets Wyoming Agricultural Experiment Station Bulletin. Accessed July 03, 2020 at https://keys.lucidcentral.org/keys/grasshopper/nonkey/html/FactSheets/greenstr.htm.

Search

Navigation Links

Information
Pictures
Classification

Classification