Orthoptera of North Carolina
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View Acrididae Members: NC Records

Paratylotropidia beutenmuelleri Morse, 1907 - Beutenmüller's Locust

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Taxonomy
Family: Acrididae Subfamily: Melanoplinae Tribe: Dactylotini
Comments: One of two species in this North American genus.
Species Status: This species was described by Morse (1907) based on a single female specimen collected by Beutenmueller in the Valley of the Black Mountains. Several records from other counties were listed by Brimley (1938), two of which from Henderson date from 1924. A specimen in the Mississippi State Collection of Insects was collected in 1950 by B.B. Fulton at Old Fort.
Identification
Field Guide Descriptions: Online Photographs: BugGuide, Google Images,  iNaturalist, GBIFTechnical Description, Adults/Nymphs: Blatchley (1920)                                                                                  
Comments: A small, reddish-brown to grayish-brown flightless grasshopper. From a photograph of a Virginia specimen found in the Ridge and Valley Province west of Roanoke, the head and pronotum form a nearly level triangle, with the lateral carinae sharply defined and forming a right angle. There is also a more weakly developed mid-dorsal carina on the pronotum and one that runs along the length of the abdomen. The hind tibiae are a deep red with black spines. The tegmina are nearly round, with the width and length nearly equal.
Total Length [body plus wings; excludes ovipositor]: 27.5 mm, 1 female (Blatchley, 1920)
Structural Features: The cerci of the males are small and triangular and about 1.33 times as long as wide and acutely pointed (Blatchley, 1920)
Distribution in North Carolina
County Map: Clicking on a county returns the records for the species in that county.
Adult Dates:
 High Mountains (HM) ≥ 4,000 ft.
 Low Mountains (LM) < 4,000 ft.
 Piedmont (Pd)
 Coastal Plain (CP)

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Habitats and Life History
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Status in North Carolina
Natural Heritage Program Status: [SR]
Natural Heritage Program Ranks: G4 SH
State Protection:
Comments: This species has been collected at several sites in the mountains of North Carolina but the last record was apparently from 1950. It has also been collected at several sites in the mountains of South Carolina but most dating to the 1930s (GBIF, accessed 2024-10). Recently, however, it has been recorded at a site in Virginia, west of Roanoke in the Ridge and Valley Province (https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/57391889). Although listed by NatureServe as G4, this species appears to be much rarer than that.