Monday September 19th

Recently, a newly introduced genus of grasshoppers was identified in New Jersey by user arisingunder, and my friend user garlic106. It was brought to my attention by user graytreefrog on the iNaturalist discord server, where they sent observations by both parties. Later, I was out with Jamie (garlic106), when they mentioned talking to user brandonwoo about the recently found grasshoppers.

I decided to check this out for myself at Trotter's Crossing Soccer Complex, where arisingunder had posted two observations of the genus before. Here, I CAUGHT a total of 16 specimens, and saw an additional 4. I gave Brandon a total of 11 grasshoppers, and kept 6 for myself for pinning purposes (and for any collections that may want them in the future), which includes the first caught specimen of the genus in NJ, which was collected by Jamie. The other 16 specimens were caught by me by either use of net or my hands, as this genus doesn't jump as far as I expected and does not appear to behave by fly after jumping as other grasshoppers in the areas nearby.

I believe there is an established population that is at least a year old in the north east corner of the soccer complex, where it shares the entrance to a trail, and connects to Parkers Creek. Conditions in the area are similar to descriptions of their native habitats, as there is lots of marsh land surrounding the Complex. However, I think this population will not spread too fast, as they have lots of natural predators, and in fact I found one while hunting the grasshoppers (T. sinensis), but if they were to spread rapidly then it could likely cause widespread damage.

It is unknown at the time which species this is exactly, and I am awaiting DNA testing by Brandon.

Publicado el septiembre 21, 2022 02:11 TARDE por evelyntomology