Orthoptera of North Carolina
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View Acrididae Members: NC Records

Melanoplus angustipennis (Dodge, 1877) - Narrow-winged Locust

Melanoplus angustipennis
Taxonomy
Family: Acrididae Subfamily: Melanoplinae Tribe: Melanoplini
Comments: Melanoplus is our largest genus of Orthopterans, with over 350 species occurring in North America (Cigliano et al., 2017). 38 species have been recorded in North Carolina.
Species Status: Cigliano et al. (2017) currently treat Melanoplus impiger as a synonym of angustpennis. This form -- which is apparently the only one that we have in North Carolina -- is larger, more robust, and somewhat different in coloration and structure from the nominate form.
Identification
Field Guide Descriptions: Capinera et al. (2004)Online Photographs: BugGuide, OSF, Google Images,  iNaturalist, GBIFTechnical Description, Adults/Nymphs: Blatchley (1920)                                                                                  
Comments: Melanoplus angustipennis form impiger is a medium-sized, fairly robust, long-winged grasshopper. According to Blatchley (1920), the head and body are "grayish or fuscous-brown, often with a reddish-brown tinge"; form impiger is somewhat darker than the nominate form. The tegmina in the nominate form are only weakly spotted, but are much more conspicuously so in form impiger. The hind femur is yellowish-brown, with the dorsal half of the outer face usually marked or suffused with fuscous, particularly in form impiger, which often has a roseate shade on the lower face. In both forms, the hind tibiae are usually glaucous but can also be red. Melanoplus confusus is similar in color but is smaller and has reduced spots on the tegmina, if any, and lacks the dark suffusion on the upper outer surface of the hind femora (Blatchley, 1920).
Total Length [body plus wings; excludes ovipositor]: Nominate form: 19-22 mm, males; 21-22 mm, females. Form impiger: 23-28 mm, males; 24-30 mm, females (Blatchley, 1920)
Structural Features: The furulae in form impiger are slightly divergent and extend half-way across the supra-anal plate (Blatchley, 1920). The cerci are fairly broad but are constricted in the middle, expanding to a rounded, somewhat concave apex (illustrated by Blatchley and Capinera et al.).
Nymphal Stages and Development: Nymphs of the nominate form are well-described by Brust et al. (2014). How well the nymphs of form impiger correspond in coloration and pattern is unclear.
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)

Click on graph to enlarge
Habitats and Life History
Habitats: This species is strongly associated with open, sandy habitats. In the Great Plains, this is a species primarily of sand prairies (Brust et al., 2016). In North Carolina, adults have been observed in Longleaf Pine and scrub oak-dominated sandhills. The site where this species was found in the Outer Coastal Plain in 2018 was a sandy old field, where it co-occurs with Spharagemon cristatum and Psinidia fenestralis, two other psammophilic species.
Diet: Polyphagous but apparently preferring forbs to grasses, feeding on grasses when forbs are scarce (Brust et al., 2016)
Observation Methods: Adults can be flushed by walking through their habitats
Abundance/Frequency: Not enough information exists to estimate its frequency of occurrence or its abundance
Adult Phenology: We have records from June, July and September
Status in North Carolina
Natural Heritage Program Status: W3
Natural Heritage Program Ranks: G5 S2S3
State Protection: Has no legal protection, although permits are required to collect it on state parks and other public lands
Comments: In North Carolina, this species appears to be strongly associated with Pine-Scrub Oak Sandhill habitats. Until 2013, all of our records were historic but it is now known from sites in both the Fall-line Sandhills and the Outer Coastal Plain. Its current distribution and abundance still need to be better determined before its conservation status can be accurately assessed.

Image Gallery for Melanoplus angustipennis - Narrow-winged Locust

Recorded by: Stephen Hall
Harnett Co.
Comment: 		Recorded by: B.B. Fulton
Moore Co.
Comment: NSCU Insect Museum specimen. Identified as subspecies impiger. Determined by M. Dakin, 1982
Recorded by: B.B. Fulton
Harnett Co.
Comment: NSCU Insect Museum specimen. Identified as subspecies impiger.