Subject: Swarming Grasshoppers
Geographic location of the bug: Argentine Patagonia
Date: 09/11/2017
Time: 02:41 PM EDT
We photographed these as part of a large swarm on the dry steppe at Rio Capitan in southern Argentine Patagonia in December. They seem to be flightless. Any idea which species?
How you want your letter signed: Martin
Hi again Martin,
One more time you have provided us with some gorgeous images of unusual Patagonian Grasshoppers that we cannot identify for you. We have posted all your images and we hope we can eventually provide you with an identification.
Update: Identification courtesy of Cesar Crash
Cesar Crash of Insetologia has been kind enough to provide a comment with a link to an image of a member of the genus Bufonacris that looks like a matching identification to us.
Many thanks Daniel & Cesar.
It looks pretty close. The two locations are about 800km apart, but the steppe habitat is very similar.
Martin
In my opinion, it’s Bufonacris:
http://orthoptera.speciesfile.org/Common/basic/ShowImage.aspx?TaxonNameID=1117644&ImageID=219497
The purple legs are a good match. Thanks for the assistance Cesar. We will update the posting.