Melanoplus femurrubrum

Red-legged Grasshopper
Quebec, Canada
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Arthropoda
Class:	Insecta
Order:	Orthoptera
Family:	Acrididae
Subfamily:	Melanoplinae
Genus:	Melanoplus
Species:	M. femurrubrum
Binomial name
Melanoplus femurrubrum (De Geer, 1773)

Ottawa, Ontario

The red-legged grasshopper (Melanoplus femurrubrum) is a species of grasshopper belonging to the genus Melanoplus found in Mexico, the United States, and Canada.^[1]

Diet

This grasshopper's diet usually consists of grains, and includes soybeans, alfalfa, wheat, and barley, among others.^[2]

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.

Description

This grasshopper has a reddish-brown back, a greenish-yellow belly, and red hind legs, hence its specific name femurrubrum (femur = thigh, rubrum = red). They are about2.5 cm (0.98 in) long.

References

1. Red-legged grasshopper, USDA
2. "Red-Legged Grasshopper Insect Information". www.insectidentification.org. Retrieved 2016-01-07.

External links

• Red-legged Grasshopper, BugGuide
• Orthoptera, Ojibway Nature Centre
• Red-legged Grasshopper Alberta