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Dracotettix monstrosus
My favorite grasshopper! Gray, short-horned, female grasshopper about 1.5 inches long with tiny wings, crested prothorax and a stripe across the eye.
On White Sage in chaparral around Lake Poway. This genus is only found in California and one species extends into Baja California.
There are three species. D. monstrosus is the most common species. "Dracotettix newboldi has longer wings (but not long enough to fly) and occurs further south in Baja California, Mexico (not known from the U.S.). D. plutonius - is found up in the mountains of the Mojave Desert further east in California and Nevada, and is rarely seen." - David J. Ferguson
Spotted on Jan 3, 2014
Submitted on Jan 4, 2014
8 Comments
Thank you Sckel! This one seemed quite confident that I couldn't see it on the plant. When I moved the stem for a different angle, it crawled on my finger. Not the normal behavior I see in other grasshoppers.
fantastic, grasshoppers usually skip away from us, and you could get it on your finger.
Thank you Mark and Jemma!
Great photography!!
very cute.
What a fabulous grasshopper.
Thank you Lauren! I do as well. I was just looking at this genus with my daughter the other day and was ecstatic to spot this one today :)
Beautiful series! I like his scientific name!