''Atractomorpha crenulata'', commonly known as the tobacco grasshopper, 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 ...

in the subfamily ''

Pyrgomorphinae The Pyrgomorphinae are a sub-family of grasshoppers ( Orthoptera : Caelifera) in the family Pyrgomorphidae. Species are found in, especially the warmer parts of: Central and South America, southern Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia and Pacific Is ...

'', found in Asia.

Taxonomy

''A. crenulata'' is a member of the genus '' Atractomorpha'', which is part of family

Pyrgomorphidae Pyrgomorphidae is a family of grasshoppers in the order Orthoptera; it is the only family in the superfamily Pyrgomorphoidea, with a pan-tropical distribution. Their name is probably derived from ''pyrgos'' (Greek: ''Πύργος'') meaning "tow ...

Johan Christian Fabricius Johan Christian Fabricius (7 January 1745 – 3 March 1808) was a Danish zoologist, specialising in "Insecta", which at that time included all arthropods: insects, arachnids, crustaceans and others. He was a student of Carl Linnaeus, and is cons ...

, in his 1793 book ''Supplementum Entomologiae Systematicae'', recorded the species as ''Truxalis crenulatus''; it was later designated ''A. crenulata crenulata'' by

William Forsell Kirby William Forsell Kirby (14 January 1844 – 20 November 1912) was an English entomologist and folklorist. Life He was born in Leicester. He was the eldest son of Samuel Kirby, who was a banker. He was educated privately, and became interested ...

in 1910. As such, ''A. crenulata'' is the

type species In zoological nomenclature, a type species (''species typica'') is the species name with which the name of a genus or subgenus is considered to be permanently taxonomically associated, i.e., the species that contains the biological type specimen ...

of its genus, which was described by

Henri Louis Frédéric de Saussure Henri Louis Frédéric de Saussure (; ; 27 November 1829 – 20 February 1905) was a Swiss mineralogist and entomologist specialising in studies of Hymenoptera and Orthopteroid insects. He also was a prolific taxonomist. Biography Sauss ...

in 1862. Three subspecies of ''A. crenulata'' are known. * ''A. c. crenulata'' ( Fabricius, 1793) ** Synonyms: ''A. c. consobrina'', ''A. c. obscura'', ''A. c. porrecta'', ''A. c. scaber'' * ''A. c. fumosa'' ( Bolívar, 1905) * ''A. c. prasina'' ( Bolívar, 1905)

Description

''A. crenulata'' is greenish in color, with well-developed

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 ...

and rosy wings. The grasshoppers' bodies are medium-sized, whereas their antennae are short.

Range and habitat

''A. crenulata'' is distributed in

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

Bangladesh Bangladesh (}, ), officially the People's Republic of Bangladesh, is a country in South Asia. It is the eighth-most populous country in the world, with a population exceeding 165 million people in an area of . Bangladesh is among the mos ...

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

Myanmar Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

, north-western

Sumatra Sumatra is one of the Sunda Islands of western Indonesia. It is the largest island that is fully within Indonesian territory, as well as the sixth-largest island in the world at 473,481 km2 (182,812 mi.2), not including adjacent i ...

, and southern

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

. But can also be found in midwestern areas of North America,such as Nebraska, Kansas and others Keith McE. Kevan argues that specimens of '' A. similis'' reported in the

Lesser Sunda Islands The Lesser Sunda Islands or nowadays known as Nusa Tenggara Islands ( id, Kepulauan Nusa Tenggara, formerly ) are an archipelago in Maritime Southeast Asia, north of Australia. Together with the Greater Sunda Islands to the west they make up t ...

are most likely specimens of ''A. crenulata''.

References

Works cited

* * {{Taxonbar, from=Q10421967 Pyrgomorphidae Orthoptera of Asia Taxa named by Johan Christian Fabricius Insects described in 1793 Insect pests of millets