Ellura's Pygmy Grasshopper
S13, Female Adult, profile
Ellura's Pygmy Grasshopper
S1, Male Nymph, Face
| Ellura's Pygmy Grasshopper S13, Female Adult, profile | | Ellura's Pygmy Grasshopper S1, Male Nymph, Face | | ||
 | Class: | Animals (Animalia) - Jointed Legs (Arthropoda) - Insects (Insecta) | |||
| Order: | Crickets, Grasshoppers & Katydids (Orthoptera) | ||||
| Family: | Pygmy Grasshopper (Caelifera: Tetrigidae) iNaturalist Observation | ||||
| Species: | Ellura's Pygmy Grasshopper (Cyphotettix ellurae) | ||||
| This Photo: | 🔍S16, Female Adult, profile🔎 | ||||
Thank you Niko Kasalo, Dr Josip Skejo & Matthew Connors for identifying and Aidan Beutel for confirming the id of this species for us General Species Information: Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA) and elsewhere A new species named after Ellura ! 1st Live Photo on-line, 1st Record on Atlas: ~5mm long Nymphs. ~5-8mm long Adults At first we didn't know what this was, perhaps a Hemipteran bug? After reviewing photo's we realised it was a grasshopper. With a pronotum that covered the whole body we thought a wingless Rockhopper (Buforniina sp). Thankfully there are experts out there willing to help with these unusual species. It turned out to be a Pygmy Grasshopper Nymph! Josip said "It could be either Tetrix irrupta, or maybe Cyphotettix sp. as Matthew suggested." We became convinced we had a flightless species, and couldn't differentiate Nymphs from Adults. Josip sent us a link to a research paper he's published showing that, with flightless species, the only way to differentiate them is by a groove, or notch, just before the knee on top of the back legs. The top of the back leg is straight on nymphs (as can be seen here). It's very difficult to see in photographs. Josip then tagged Niko Kasalo at Zagreb Uni, who recognised it as a new species. Niko is working with ANIC to describe this, and other Australian tetrigids. They can be white, brown or black, striped or plain with most being brown, then black; white is rare. We are of course jumping the gun here, it's not officially "Cyphotettix ellurae" until it's published, which won't happen until next year. But we are so excited & proud that he's going to name it after Ellura that we couldn't wait to share the news These are facinating hoppers. The family is as old as dinosaurs. They even pre-date grass! Which makes the "Grasshopper" moniker somewhat deceiving. They actually eat fungi, moss, detritus, etc. Niko had some interesting, and very kind, things to say CLICK HERE | |||||
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