Melanoplus


Melanoplus is a large genus of grasshoppers. They are the typical large grasshoppers in North America. A common name is spur-throat grasshoppers, but this more typically refers to members of the related subfamily Catantopinae.
The largest grasshoppers of this genus can reach nearly in length, but most are smaller. Some are intricately patterned and colorful, others are drab.
Melanoplus species eat grasses of all kinds, as well as leafy and grassy agricultural crops and garden plants. They feed on the leaves, and sometimes fruit, flowers, and buds, as well as tree bark. Many of the more notable agricultural pest grasshoppers belong here, including the Rocky Mountain locust, the most significant insect pest of the 19th century Great Plains, but now extinct.

Selected species

New species are often being discovered and described in this genus where speciation runs rampant in isolated areas, involving speciation by hybridization.Melanoplus adelogyrus - Volusia grasshopper, St. Johns short-wing grasshopperMelanoplus alpinus - alpine grasshopperMelanoplus angustipennis - narrow-winged sand grasshopper, narrow-winged spur-throat grasshopperMelanoplus aridus - arid lands spur-throat grasshopperMelanoplus bispinosus - two-spined spurthroated grasshopperMelanoplus bivittatus - two-striped grasshopperMelanoplus borealis - northern spur-throat grasshopperMelanoplus bowditchi - sagebrush grasshopperMelanoplus bruneri - Bruner's spur-throat grasshopperMelanoplus confusus - pasture grasshopperMelanoplus dawsonii - Dawson's grasshopperMelanoplus devastator - devastating grasshopperMelanoplus differentialis - differential grasshopperMelanoplus femurrubrum - red-legged grasshopperMelanoplus foedus - striped sand grasshopperMelanoplus foxi Hebard, 1923Melanoplus forcipatusMelanoplus gladstoni - Gladston's grasshopperMelanoplus infantilis - little spur-throat grasshopperMelanoplus keeleri - Keeler's spur-throat grasshopperMelanoplus kennicotti - Kennicott grasshopperMelanoplus lakinus - Lakin grasshopperMelanoplus ludivinae Fontana, Buzzetti & Marino-Perez, 2011Melanoplus mixes Fontana, Buzzetti & Marino-Perez, 2011Melanoplus nossi- Noss' spur throat grasshopper Melanoplus oaxacae Fontana, Buzzetti & Marino-Perez, 2011Melanoplus occidentalis - flabellate grasshopperMelanoplus packardii - Packard's grasshopperMelanoplus punctulatus - pine tree spur-throat grasshopperMelanoplus quercicolaMelanoplus rugglesi - Nevada sage grasshopperMelanoplus sanguinipes - migratory grasshopperMelanoplus scudderi - Scudder's short-winged grasshopper