The Ohio naturalist, Vol. I, No. 6, April, 1901Ohio State University. Biological Club
History
The Ohio naturalist, Vol. I, No. 6, April, 1901
Ohio State University. Biological Club
Natural history -- Ohio -- Periodicals; Natural history -- Periodicals; Science -- Periodicals
TRIMEROTROPIS MARITIMA.—This grasshopper which is very abundant on the
dunes along Cedar Point Beach, is of special interest because of its
protective resemblance to the sand on which it ordinarily rests. It is
one of the best examples I have seen of adaptive coloration, but does
not seem to have been mentioned in such connection, possibly because the
colors change in preserved specimens so that the mimicry is totally
lost. They reach maturity in latter part of June, and while only larvae
are seen in middle of June, nearly all have matured by the latter part
of July. They occur most abundantly on the sand adjacent to the clumps
of grass upon which they doubtless feed, though so far no individuals
have been observed actually feeding on grass leaves, but one was
observed eating a fragment of apple cast up in drift materials on the
beach. When disturbed they invariably alight on the sand, upon which
they become at once invisible. About the only way to capture them is to
throw a net down on a spot where one has been seen to alight, and then
it not infrequently happens that two or even three will be caught though
their presence has not been suspected.
The adult is whitish gray speckled with ferruginous fuscous and black,
conspicuous ferruginous points occurring usually on the anterior margin
of pronotum and on the lower borders of epimera of meso- and
meta-thorax, humeri of elytra and discal carina of femur, these may be
faint or obsolete, and on wings and legs may form slender lides; dark
freckles occur on carinæ of vertex and face, forming a series back of
collar on pronotum, on posterior border of pronotum and on sides of
elytra and hind femora; on elytra they are thicker at three places,
one-fourth, one-half and two-thirds from base, constituting fairly
distinct patches, and on femur are two indistinct bands corresponding
with well marked black bands on the inner side. Anterior and middle
femora and tibiæ nearly white, milky, with gray annulations; hind tibiæ
gray at base, distal two-thirds yellow, in one form orange or reddish,
spines yellow, tipped with black, anterior and middle tarsi ferruginous
or reddish, hind tarsi yellow. The sternum is finely pilose. A variety
is quite uniformly yellowish gray.
The larvae are similarly speckled but differ in that the dorsum of
abdomen is densely speckled, while in adults this part protected by the
folded wings is not speckled. In all these points a perfect adaptation
to the color and markings that blend with the sand grains is evident.
In the latter part of the summer of 1899, many of these grasshoppers
died from an attack of parasitic fungus, and in such cases climbed up on
stems of grass where their whitened bodies became very conspicuous. Eggs
are doubtless laid in autumn probably in packed sand in grass clumps to
hatch in following spring.
NOTES ON THE BIRD LIFE OF CEDAR POINT.
ROBERT F. GRIGGS.
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