Sadly, the Devastator Grasshopper (Melanoplus devastator) we caught on 6/26 has perished just like the Pallid-wings (Trimerotropis pallidipennis). When we caught the the Devastator Grasshoppers on 6/26 at Canyon Trail Park, El Cerrito, it was yet again triggered by the "act first think later" mentality. We had never reared them before, had never even seen them before that date, and generally have failed miserably to rear other grasshoppers in the past such as the Pallid-wing Grasshopper that died on 6/22. And still, we decided to catch them for some nice photo shoots and deal with keeping them alive later. All the way up until a few days ago since we caught it, our single Devastator Grasshopper (the other ones escaped while taking photos) seemed pretty comfortable in the new home we made it (described here). Everyday it would hop around and take a bite of the dead grass we gave it and generally seemed fine with the way we were treating it. It seemed to love picking off the little seeds on the grass and eating them like a squirrel (yes, it holds its food to its mouth using its front two legs as hands). At the time, it really didn't seem much harder than keeping katydids (Scudderia mexicana and Phaneroptera nana) which we have never had any mysterious deaths with. But a few days ago, it seemed to be getting weak, the same vague symptom we saw in our Pallid-wing a few days before it died. By yesterday, it's fate seemed almost sealed -- it wasn't hopping around at all and wasn't eating. At first glance, it might've seemed like these were symptoms of a nearing molt. But it clearly wasn't because by today it was dead with no injuries or any sign of a molting whatsoever, let alone a mismolt. It was just sitting at the bottom of the container, completely limp and lifeless. We really don't know what to say about this rather mysterious and abrupt death. Never have we ever been able to keep grasshoppers alive for long despite our roaring success with katydids. Their needs are simply too diverse and what applies to one group of Orthoptera simply doesn't apply to another, even if they are native to the exact same region. We will certainly have to learn from our mistakes and figure this out if we ever wish to include a grasshopper section to our Orthoptera Rearing Guide. - Brian
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Timeline 2012–2017
Albany, California This timeline is a series of daily posts recording our observations on and experiences with various insects in Albany California and surrounding areas, from 2012-2017. Since we did not publish this site until 2016, posts before that were constructed retroactively. Starting in August 2017, we moved to Ithaca, New York; posts from there on can be viewed at Timeline 2017-present: Ithaca, New York. Archives (1,011)
August 2017 (49) July 2017 (121) June 2017 (79) May 2017 (77) April 2017 (91) March 2017 (35) February 2017 (12) January 2017 (10) December 2016 (12) November 2016 (26) October 2016 (49) September 2016 (84) August 2016 (94) July 2016 (99) June 2016 (53) May 2016 (21) April 2016 (4) January 2016 (1) August 2015 (3) July 2015 (3) June 2015 (2) June 2014 (3) May 2014 (1) April 2014 (3) March 2014 (3) December 2013 (2) November 2013 (2) October 2013 (5) September 2013 (11) August 2013 (15) July 2013 (9) June 2013 (5) May 2013 (4) April 2013 (3) March 2013 (2) February 2013 (3) January 2013 (2) December 2012 (2) November 2012 (1) October 2012 (2) September 2012 (2) August 2012 (5) July 2012 (1) June 2012 (1) Authors
![]() ![]() Full Species List (Alphabetical by scientific name) Note: - Not every species we encounter is necessarily presented on this site, rather a selection of those that were of particular interest to us and that we felt were worth documenting. - We can't guarantee that all species have been identified accurately, particularly taxa we are not as familiar with. Lepidoptera Actias luna Adelpha californica Agraulis vanillae Allancastria cerisyi Antheraea mylitta Antheraea polyphemus Anthocharis sara Argema mimosae Attacus atlas Battus philenor hirsuta Bombyx mori Caligo atreus Callosamia promethea Coenonympha tullia california Citheronia regalis Cricula trifenestrata Danaus plexippus Eacles imperialis Erynnis tristis Estigmene acrea Eumorpha achemon Eupackardia calleta Furcula cinereoides Heliconius erato Heliconius hecale Heliconius sapho Heliconius sara Hyalophora cecropia Hyalophora columbia Hyalophora euryalus Hylephila phyleus Hyles lineata Junonia coenia Langia zenzeroides formosana Lophocampa maculata Manduca sexta Morpho peleides Nymphalis antiopa Orgyia vetusta Orthosia hibisci quenquefasciata Pachysphinx modesta Papilio cresphontes Papilio eurymedon Papilio glaucus Papilio machaon oregonius Papilio multicaudata Papilio polyxenes asterius Papilio rumiko Papilio rutulus Papilio zelicaon Phyciodes mylitta Phyciodes pulchella Pieris rapae Plejebus acmon Poanes melane Polites sabuleti Polygonia satyrus Pyrgus communis Rothschildia jacobaeae Samia cynthia advena Samia ricini Smerinthus cerisyi Smerinthus ophthalmica Strymon melinus Trichoplusia ni Uresephita reversalis Vanessa annabella Vanessa atalanta Vanessa cardui Unidentified Lepidoptera Hybrids Papilio glaucus × Papilio rutulus Papilio polyxenes asterius × Papilio zelicaon Orthoptera Melanoplus devastator Phaneroptera nana Pristoceuthophilus pacificus Scudderia mexicana Trimerotropis pallidipennis Phasmatodea Carausius morosus Phyllium giganteum Mantodea Mantis religiosa Phyllocrania paradoxa Hymenoptera Apis mellifera Bombus vosnesenskii Brachymeria ovata Linepithema humile Pediobius sp. Polistes dominula Xylocopa varipuncta Unidentified Diptera Lucilia sericata Unidentified Hemiptera Brochymena sp. Leptoglossus sp. Nezara viridula Odonata Argia vivida Libellula croceipennis Coleoptera Coccinella septempunctata Cycloneda polita Diabrotica undecimpunctata Hippodamia convergens Araneae (Class: Arachnida) Araneus diadematus Phidippus johnsoni |