Eastern Lubber Grasshopper found in NEW JERSEY!!!!

bugman

June 25th, 2011 at 12:59 am

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Walmart Watermelon Bug
Location: Found in NJ
June 24, 2011 10:11 pm
Good evening. A friend who works at a local Walmart was unpacking watermelons and came across this bug. To me it looks like a grasshopper of some sort and then again it doesn’t can you tell us what it is and if it is a danger.
Thanks
Signature: Ellen

Eastern Lubber Grasshopper

Dear Ellen,
This is an immature Eastern Lubber Grasshopper, Romalea microptera. There are two recognized common color variations and this is the dark morph. There is a very thorough information page on BugGuide. According to BugGuide, the species is found in the south from Texas to South Carolina and all states between. It would be interesting to learn where the watermelons originated. Though this is a native species to the U.S., it does not range to New Jersey, and since its method of entry was unnatural in that it was the result of the transportation of crops, this could not be considered a normal range expansion. We doubt this individual will reproduce since it is too young to have mated, and it is not likely to find a mate in New Jersey unless it is another stowaway. We will nonetheless tag this as an Invasive Exotic.

Daniel,
Thanks so much for the quick response. It reminded me of a grasshopper I had seen in the everglades several years ago although the one in Florida was much brighter in color. As you can imagine this guy gave the young lady quite a jolt as she was unpacking the melons.
Ellen

add Eastern Lubber Grasshopper found in NEW JERSEY!!!!

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From Mating Eastern Lubber Grasshoppers | What's That Bug? on 27 Jun 2011 at 12:14 am ¶
[...] microptera. They have both a light and a dark form and this is the light form. We just posted a photo of the dark form that emerged from a watermelon shipment in New Jersey, many hundreds of miles north of its typical range. Texas is the furthest west the Eastern Lubber [...]
From Mating Eastern Lubber Grasshoppers | What's That Bug? on 27 Jun 2011 at 12:14 am ¶
[...] microptera. They have both a light and a dark form and this is the light form. We just posted a photo of the dark form that emerged from a watermelon shipment in New Jersey, many hundreds of miles north of its typical range. Texas is the furthest west the Eastern Lubber [...]