Leaf grasshopper from Borneo
November 24, 2009
This grasshopper mimicking a yellow leaf was found in Kinabalu National Park, Sabah, Borneo at approximately 1600m elevation in January 2008. I would be grateful for help to discover its species identity.
Peter Bruce-jones
Kinabalu NP, Sabah, Borneo, altitude c. 1600m
Hi Peter,
This is quite an amazing looking grasshopper. We will post the image to see if our readership can assist in the identification. We would recommend that you post a comment to this posting so you will be notified directly if you receive an identification.
Karl Provides an ID
November 29, 2009
Hi Daniel:
I believe the genus is Systella, a short-horned grasshopper (Caelifera) in the family Trigonopterygidae. According to the ‘Orthoptera Species File Online’ website this is primarily a southeast Asian genus with seven representatives on Borneo. My hunch is that it is S. dusmeti, but they all look quite similar and I really can’t be certain. Regards.
Karl
Hi Karl,
Thank you for the identification and for the link to the orthoptera online website. I agree that the S. dusmeti specimen illustrated there is a very good match for the insect I photographed.
Regards,
Peter