''Pseudochorthippus parallelus'' (often known by its synonym ''Chorthippus parallelus''), the meadow grasshopper, is a common species of grasshopper in the

tribe The term tribe is used in many different contexts to refer to a category of human social group. The predominant worldwide usage of the term in English is in the discipline of anthropology. This definition is contested, in part due to confli ...

Gomphocerini.Orthoptera Species File (Version 5.0/5.0 retrieved 28 September 2019)
/ref> It is found in non-arid grasslands throughout the well vegetated areas of Europe and some adjoining areas of Asia. It is a well-studied organism in the discipline of

Evolutionary biology Evolutionary biology is the subfield of biology that studies the evolutionary processes ( natural selection, common descent, speciation) that produced the diversity of life on Earth. It is also defined as the study of the history of life ...

and was an early and important model system for the study of European

phylogeography Phylogeography is the study of the historical processes that may be responsible for the past to present geographic distributions of genealogical lineages. This is accomplished by considering the geographic distribution of individuals in light of ge ...

Distribution

The range of the Meadow Grasshopper extends from the Atlantic coast of Europe, including the British Isles, to the

Urals The Ural Mountains ( ; rus, Ура́льские го́ры, r=Uralskiye gory, p=ʊˈralʲskʲɪjə ˈɡorɨ; ba, Урал тауҙары) or simply the Urals, are a mountain range that runs approximately from north to south through western ...

. It is found from Scandinavia in the north to southern Spain and

Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The ...

in the south. It prefers moist vegetation and in southern regions is typically found in river valleys and at altitude (up to approx 2000m), not being found in arid areas. Chorthippus parallelus 8946

Physical appearance

Females grow to approximately and are larger and less active than males that grow to approximately . Both sexes are flightless. In females the wing cases (covering

vestigial Vestigiality is the retention, during the process of evolution, of genetically determined structures or attributes that have lost some or all of the ancestral function in a given species. Assessment of the vestigiality must generally rely on co ...

wings) extend only a short way down the abdomen while males have longer wing cases extending to almost the tip of the abdomen. They can be variable in colour with green, brownish, purple-red and pink forms recorded, although green forms are most common. Colour forms are genetically determined and some populations can show high frequency of pink grasshoppers. ''Pseudochorthippus parallelus'' is distinguished from similar species by the approximately parallel nature of the bars (pronotal side-keels) on the back of the neck which gives the species its name.

Possible utilization for human food

Due to high densities of these insects in Western Europe, some researchers have also proposed their possible utilization as human food. These insects contain 69% proteins on dry weight with excellent amino acid profile and digestibility. Aman Paul and his co-workers indicated that before introducing these insects for human food, it is necessary to do a thorough examination of any possible toxic and/or allergic conditions that could arise from their consumption.

Subspecies

Various races of the meadow grasshopper have been described in different regions with forms described as separate subspecies. They include: # ''P. parallelus erythropus'' (Faber, 1958) -

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, def ...

# ''P. parallelus parallelus'' (Zetterstedt, 1821) - nominate subsp., widespread including the

British Isles The British Isles are a group of islands in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner and Outer Hebrides, the Northern Isles, ...

# ''P. parallelus serbicus'' Karaman, Z., 1958 # ''P. parallelus tenuis'' (Brullé, 1832) - Greece These subspecies are the result of the allopatric separation of ''P. parallelus'' populations into separate southern European refugia during the

Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( , often referred to as the ''Ice age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from about 2,580,000 to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed in ...

ice ages. The most widespread subspecies, ''P.p. parallelus'', is found throughout much of Europe but is replaced by ''P.p. erythropus'' in Iberia. The Iberian ''erythropus'' subspecies is characterized in the field by red hind tibiae and differences in the mating song although other studies demonstrate additional differences in morphological, behavioural, chromosomal and DNA sequence characters. There is a

hybrid zone A hybrid zone exists where the ranges of two interbreeding species or diverged intraspecific lineages meet and cross-fertilize. Hybrid zones can form ''in situ'' due to the evolution of a new lineage but generally they result from secondary contact ...

between ''P.p. erythropus'' and ''P.p. parallelus'' running along the ridge of the

Pyrenees The Pyrenees (; es, Pirineos ; french: Pyrénées ; ca, Pirineu ; eu, Pirinioak ; oc, Pirenèus ; an, Pirineus) is a mountain range straddling the border of France and Spain. It extends nearly from its union with the Cantabrian Mountains to ...

mountains between Spain and France. A similar

has been described between forms in France and Italy that runs along the

Alps The Alps () ; german: Alpen ; it, Alpi ; rm, Alps ; sl, Alpe . are the highest and most extensive mountain range system that lies entirely in Europe, stretching approximately across seven Alpine countries (from west to east): France, Swi ...

Speciation

The subspecies do not appear to be speciating by way of

reinforcement In behavioral psychology, reinforcement is a consequence applied that will strengthen an organism's future behavior whenever that behavior is preceded by a specific antecedent stimulus. This strengthening effect may be measured as a higher fr ...

. This result is among the most important evidences against speciation by reinforcement.

Gallery

Chorthippus parallelus couple.jpg, Mating Meadow grasshopper (Chorthippus parallelus) nymph.jpg, Nymph Acrididae - Chorthippus parallelus (immature).JPG, Immature Chorthippus parallelus mâle 1.jpg, Male, green with brown wings Meadow grasshopper (Chorthippus parallelus) nymph Oxford.jpg, Female green form Chorthippus parallelus 1.jpg, Female showing slight pink coloration

References

{{Taxonbar, from1=Q20747, from2=Q14191199 parallelus Insects of Asia Orthoptera of Europe Insects described in 1821