''Anacridium moestum'', the camouflaged tree locust, is a species of
grasshopper
Grasshoppers are a group of insects belonging to the suborder Caelifera. They are among what is possibly the most ancient living group of chewing herbivorous insects, dating back to the early Triassic around 250 million years ago.
Grasshopp ...
belonging to the family
Acrididae
The AcrididaeMacLeay WS (1821) ''Horae Entomologicae or Essays on the Annulose Animals'' 2 are the predominant family of grasshoppers, comprising some 10,000 of the 11,000 species of the entire suborder Caelifera. The Acrididae are best known bec ...
,
[Catalogue of life]
/ref>[Orthoptera Species File]
/ref> that is native to Africa south of the equator. It is similar in appearance to the Southern African desert locust, ''Schistocerca gregaria
The desert locust (''Schistocerca gregaria'') is a species of locust, a periodically swarming, short-horned grasshopper in the family Acrididae. They are found primarily in the deserts and dry areas of northern and eastern Africa, Arabia, and sou ...
flavicentris''.
Description
''Anacridium moestum'' can reach a length of . These large and slender locusts show a mottled reddish brown or grey body, with a finely speckled green tegmina
A tegmen (plural: ''tegmina'') designates the modified leathery front wing on an insect particularly in the orders Dermaptera (earwigs), Orthoptera (grasshoppers, crickets and similar families), Mantodea (praying mantis), Phasmatodea (stick an ...
. Hind wings are pale blue with a black band near the base. Hind tibiae are purplish. Nymphs (hoppers) are yellowish green.[Africa Wild]
/ref> The eyes and face are vertically striped.[
]
Distribution and habitat
This species is native and widespread in southern and south tropical Africa.[ These grasshoppers live on trees or shrubs in grassland with acacias.][
]
Biology
''Anacridium moestum'' feeds on ''Acacia
''Acacia'', commonly known as the wattles or acacias, is a large genus of shrubs and trees in the subfamily Mimosoideae of the pea family Fabaceae. Initially, it comprised a group of plant species native to Africa and Australasia. The genus na ...
'', ''Zizyphus
''Ziziphus'' is a genus of about 40 species of spiny shrubs and small trees in the buckthorn family, Rhamnaceae, distributed in the warm-temperate, subtropical and tropical regions of the world. The leaves are alternate, entire, with three promi ...
'', '' Capparis aphelia'', and gum trees
''Eucalyptus'' () is a genus of over seven hundred species of Flowering plant, flowering trees, shrubs or Mallee (habit), mallees in the Myrtaceae, myrtle Family (biology), family, Myrtaceae. Along with several other genera in the Tribe (biology) ...
. These tree locusts may damage crops and fruit trees, but only occasionally swarm.[
]
Bibliography
*Burr (1903) Orthoptera Fam. Eumasticidae, Genera Insectorum, V. Verteneuil & L. Desmet, Brussels 15:1-23, pl 1
*COPR (Centre for Overseas Pest Research) (1982), The Locust and Grasshopper Agricultural Manual
*Dirsh (1965), The African Genera of Acridoidea, Cambridge University Press, Antilocust Centre, London 579 pp.
*Johnsen (1991) Acrididae: Catantopinae, Cyrtacanthacridinae, Acridinae, The Acridoidea of Botswana (Acridoidea of Botswana) 2:132-284
*Johnston, H.B. (1956), Annotated catalogue of African grasshoppers, The Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 833 pp.
*Johnston, H.B. (1968), Annotated catalogue of African grasshoppers, The Cambridge University Press, Cambridge Suppl:448 pp.
*Kirby, W.F. (1910), A Synonymic Catalogue of Orthoptera (Orthoptera Saltatoria, Locustidae vel Acridiidae), British Museum (Natural History), London 3(2):674 pp.
*Picker, Griffiths & Weaving (2005), Field Guide to Insects of Southern Africa, Struik Publishers, South Africa 444 pp.
*Rehn, J.A.G. (1942) New South African Bird-Locust of the Genus Anacridium (Orthoptera, Acrididae, Cyrtacanthacridinae), Notulae Naturae 110
*Rehn, J.A.G. (1944) South African bird-locust records and notes (Orthoptera, Acrididae, Cyrtacanthacridinae, group Cyrtacanthacres), Notulae Naturae 137:11 pp.
*Serville (1838 839, Histoire naturelle des insectes. Orthoptères, Librairie Encyclopédique de Roret, Paris i-xviii, 1-776, pl. 1-14
*Uvarov & G.B. Popov (1957) The saltatorial Orthoptera of Socotra, Zoological Journal of the Linnean Society, London (Zool. J. Linn. Soc.) 43:359-389
*Uvarov (1923) A revision of the Old World Cyrtacanthacrini (Orthoptera, Acrididae). II. Genera Phyxacra to Willemsea, Annals and Magazine of Natural History, London (Ann. Mag. nat. Hist.) 9 11:473-490
*Uvarov (1966), Grasshoppers & Locusts. A Handbook of General Acridology, Cambridge University Press, London 1:481 pp.
References
{{Taxonbar, from=Q10409637
Acrididae
Insects described in 1838