280 days of Urbpandemonium #179

[urbpan]

Imagine my delight when our first excursion into the streets of St. Louis resulted in finding a new (to me) species!



No, seriously, we were really in the downtown area. These grasshoppers--and there were many of them--were in a narrow planted area within a sculpture park called Citygarden.


These appear to be "differential grasshoppers" Melanoplus differentialis, which eat a wide variety of plant material.


I'm assuming that the "differential" part of their name is a reference to the herringbone pattern on the femur. The pattern resembles the angled teeth of some differential gearing systems.


This species is a commonly encountered agricultural pest in the Midwest region, but it was a first encounter for me.

Comments

[froganon.livejournal.com]

That herringbone pattern is quite striking!