Food-plants, distribution, and abundance of the big-headed grasshopper, Aulocara Elliotti (Thos.)

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The big-headed grasshopper, Aulocara elliotti (Thos.), is a grassland species. Both observational and experimental data indicate that grasses are necessary as food-plants. The species occurs in all of the associations of the Grassland Biome of North America; however, the largest populations are found in the more arid associations such as the short-grass plains, the desert plains, and the Palouse prairie. Large numbers have also occurred in parts of the Northern Desert Shrub Biome. The subsistence of the species in these areas no doubt depends upon the presence of grasses. The scarcity of grasses in the more arid shrub communities of western North America is probably a limiting factor in its distribution. Only small populations occur in the tall-grass prairie. The low numbers cannot be explained on the basis of lack of food-plants. Possibly the limiting factors in this association are the conditions of increased moisture and denser vegetation.

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ELECTRONIC FILE - Zoology: Invertebrates

Citation: Pfadt, Robert E. 1949. Food-plants, distribution, and abundance of the big-headed grasshopper, Aulocara Elliotti (Thos.). Journal of the Kansas Entomological Society 22(2): 69-74.