HOST SELECTION BY GRASSHOPPERS (ORTHOPTERA: ACRIDIDAE) INHABITING SEMI-AQUATIC ENVIRONMENTS
Abstract
Through laboratory choice tests involving 19 plant species, we assessed the host selection behavior of six grasshopper species: Stenacris vitreipennis (Marschall) (glassywinged toothpick grasshopper), Leptysma marginicollis (Serville) (cattail toothpick grasshopper), Gymnoscirtetes pusillus Scudder (little wingless grasshopper), Paroxya clavuliger (Serville) (olivegreen swamp grasshopper), Paroxya atlantica Scudder (Atlantic grasshopper), and Romalea microptera (Beauvois) (eastern lubber grasshopper). This grasshopper assemblage is commonly associated with semi-aquatic habitats in the southeastern United States. These poorly studied species display both graminivorous (S. vetreipennis and L. marginicollis) and mixed graminivorous-forbivorous feeding habits (the remaining species), the nature of which are fairly predictable based on examination of mouthpart morphology, but not entirely consistent with the tendency of cyrtacanthacridine species to feed on forbs.View this article in BioOne
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright for any article published in Florida Entomologist is held by the author(s) of the article. Florida Entomologist is an open access journal. Florida Entomologist follows terms of the Creative Commons, Attribution Non-Commercial License (cc by-nc). By submitting and publishing articles in Florida Entomologist, authors grant the FOJ and Florida Entomologist's host institutions permission to make the article available through Internet posting and electronic dissemination, and to otherwise archive the information contained both electronically and in a hard printed version. When used, information and images obtained from articles must be referenced and cited appropriately. Articles may be reproduced for personal, educational, or archival purposes, or any non-commercial use. Permission should be sought from the author(s) for multiple, non-commercial reproduction. Written permission from the author(s) is required for any commercial reproduction.