grasshopper?
Location: San Luis Obispo County, California
June 26, 2011 6:42 pm
I was hiking with some friends in Montana de Oro State Park here in California along the Central Coast when one of us spotted this grasshopper! We can’t find it online anywhere.
Signature: Howdy
Hi Howdy,
We believe this is a Dragon Lubber Grasshopper in the genus Dracotettix, however, its coloration does not match any photos posted to BugGuide. All of the images on bugGuide are of the species Dracotettix monstrosus, and two other species are mentioned that are found in California, however they are not pictured. We suspect this is either an unusual color variation or a different species in the genus. We will check with Eric Eaton to get his opinion.
It certainly does appear to be similar to the Dragon Lubber. I checked on BugGuide and did find two other species of Dracotettix, like you mentioned, but the pictures were included. There certainly are three color variations: http://bugguide.net/node/view/163571/bgimage None of them match the one I sent. The three of us who were hiking together are very anticipatory on information. What you provided was greatly appreciated and made us hopeful. We would be very excited if it is indeed a new species! It certainly does seem that it would fall under the Dracotettix genus if it is a new species. We are still very thankful for your time even if it has already been discovered.