Tag Archives: grasshopper

2019

Day 7 in Belize: Last day at Las Cuevas

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Today was our last day at Las Cuevas Research Station and we had a full day. We collected all the camera traps that we set up the first day. Later in the evening, we looked through the camera trap photos and the most exciting photo was of a Tapir!

We also excavated a young and old leafcutter ant nest and saw the chamber where they keep their fungi garden in the older nest. The ants bring the leaves to the fungi for it to digest to a form that the ants can eat. It was a little scary when the army ants came out of the nest and started surrounding our boots because they can cut through pants and draw blood.

It was a great day for spotting Orthoptera. I saw at least two katydids. Both mimicked brown leaves to avoid predation. I think one of them was the Dead leaf katydid (Orophus tesselatus) because it has a very similar shape and pattern of the wings to the picture on my ID card.

Leaf mimic katydid

 

Dead leaf katydid (Orophus tesselatus)

The last Orthoptera I saw was dead and had its antennae and legs eaten off which makes it harder to identify. The hind wings were like a bright red fan which made me think it was the Giant Red Winged Grasshopper (Tropidacris cristata) and not a katydid. It was also very large and had bumps on the pronotum which are characteristics of this grasshopper.

Dead Giant Red Winged Grasshopper

 

Hind wings of dead grasshopper
2019

Day 6: Ants and Cecropia trees

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Today was the busiest day at Las Cuevas so far. In the morning, we compared the plant diversity of a region disturbed by a hurricane a few years ago to an undisturbed area.

In the afternoon, we collected data to see if young Cecropia trees that are not yet colonized by ants have tougher leaves than those that are colonized by ants to avoid herbivory. Cecropia and Azteca ants form a symbiotic relationship where the plant gives the ants a home and carbohydrate source, and the ants protects the Cecropia.

Giant Red Winged grasshopper nymphs.

The most interesting Orthoptera I saw was a large group of grasshopper nymphs in the morning. They looked like they were piled on top of each over and formed a ball when I first saw them. I think they were Giant red winged grasshopper nymphs (Tropidacris cristata) because of the yellow aposematic markings on one of them. I also saw a lot of crickets at night, one of which looked like the White-kneed king cricket (Penalva flavocalceata).

White-kneed king cricket
2019

Day 5: Collecting pitfall traps and more grasshoppers!

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Today we collected our vials from the pitfall traps that we set up yesterday. On our hike, we saw a Toucan and most excitingly, a Morelet’s Tree Frog! Once we grouped all the arthropods into different morphospecies and analyzed our data, we made a poster and presented it to Scott and Amanda.

Morelet’s tree frog

I saw a few more grasshopper nymphs which often form small groups which is why I see several on one leaf most of the time.

A grasshopper nymph. There is only one here, but there are often multiple grouped on one leaf.
A large grasshopper in the Acrididae family and maybe in the Schistocerca genus.

In the afternoon, I saw a grasshopper in the Acrididae family that at first reminded me of the Giant Red-Wing Grasshopper (Tropidacris cristata) because of its large size, and yellowish red hindwings. After looking more closely, I don’t think it is one because the shape of the pronotum, the plate like structure below the head, and the eye look different than the Giant Red-Wing Grasshoppers I have researched. Instead, I think it is in Schistocerca genus.