Animal Diversity Web

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)

• Biogeographic Regions
• nearctic
  • native

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)

• Habitat Regions
• temperate

• Terrestrial Biomes
• savanna or grassland

• Wetlands
• marsh
• swamp

• Other Habitat Features
• agricultural

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)

• Other Physical Features
• ectothermic
• bilateral symmetry

• 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)

• Development - Life Cycle
• metamorphosis
• diapause

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)

• Key Reproductive Features
• seasonal breeding
• sexual
• oviparous

• 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)

• Key Behaviors
• flies
• motile
• social

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)

• Communication Channels
• acoustic

• Perception Channels
• visual
• tactile
• acoustic
• chemical

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)

• Primary Diet
• herbivore
  • folivore

• 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)

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

• IUCN Red List

  No special status

• US Federal List

  No special status

• CITES

  No special status

• State of Michigan List

  No special status

Con­trib­u­tors

Deena Hauze (au­thor), An­i­mal Di­ver­sity Web Staff.

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.