Pallid-wing Grasshopper Find

Today as we were foraging for Anise Swallowtail eggs (Papilio zelicaon) on the Ohlone Greenway at Brighton Ave., we happened to also find and capture a Pallid-wing Grasshopper (Trimerotropis pallidipennis).

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Pallid-wing grasshoppers (Trimerotropis pallidipennis) are very common here in Albany. We have seen them hopping around during the summer time for as long as we can remember. Naturally, they can be found inhabiting very dry, sunny areas in places where there is a lot of dry grass and such where they are very cryptic with their brown coloration. They are pretty typical grasshoppers. 

Today, we happened to find an adult female Pallid wing grasshopper while we were looking for Anise Swallowtail eggs (Papilio zelicaon) under the BART tracks near the far end of the Ohlone Greenway at Brighton Ave. (near the El Cerrito BART station). We found it in a very open little landing area at the bottom of the elevated walkway of the Ohlone Greenway trail where there was some really dry looking mud and little shrubs (including a bit of wild fennel (Foeniculum vulgare), an Anise host plant, of course). It was extremely easy to catch even using just a small petri dish since it was loosing one of its hind legs that it uses to hop with. I suppose we should count ourselves pretty lucky at that since, unlike the somewhat delicate bush katydids, these things are incredibly powerful and fast hoppers.

When we took the grasshopper home, we were kind of stumped as to what to do with it. In the past when we have tried to rear them, they have always ended up dying because we could not figure out what food they prefer and could not get them to eat. Their habitat is also tricky and they don't seem too content to just be sitting in an otherwise empty plastic container. Eventually, we decided to get a little container, filled it up with mud (we also hoped that it might oviposit for us in the mud, but that's a pretty far stretch), and topped it with some dry grasses. 

As of now, it hasn't eaten anything and doesn't seem especially happy in its new home, but we will see if we can get it to survive in captivity. And maybe force feed it if necessary. . .

- Brian