Orthoptera of North Carolina
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Scientific Name:
Common Name:
Family (Alpha):
ACRIDIDAE
GRYLLACRIDIDAE
GRYLLIDAE
GRYLLOTALPIDAE
RHAPHIDOPHORIDAE
ROMALEIDAE
TETRIGIDAE
TETTIGONIIDAE
TRIDACTYLIDAE
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Acrididae Members:
Metaleptea brevicornis
Schistocerca alutacea
Schistocerca americana
Schistocerca damnifica
Schistocerca lineata
Schistocerca obscura
Schistocerca rubiginosa
Amblytropidia mysteca
Syrbula admirabilis
Chloealtis conspersa
Eritettix simplex
Pseudochorthippus curtipennis
Mermiria unidentified species
Mermiria bivittata
Mermiria intertexta
Mermiria picta
Dichromorpha elegans
Dichromorpha viridis
Orphulella pelidna
Orphulella speciosa
Leptysma marginicollis
Stenacris vitreipennis
Campylacantha olivacea
Paratylotropidia beutenmuelleri
Eotettix pusillus
Hesperotettix viridis
Hesperotettix viridis brevipennis
Melanoplus unidentified species
Melanoplus viridipes group unidentified species
Melanoplus acrophilus
Melanoplus angustipennis
Melanoplus attenuatus
Melanoplus bispinosus
Melanoplus bivittatus
Melanoplus carnegiei
Melanoplus celatus
Melanoplus cherokee
Melanoplus confusus
Melanoplus coreyi
Melanoplus deceptus
Melanoplus decoratus
Melanoplus decorus
Melanoplus devius
Melanoplus differentialis
Melanoplus divergens
Melanoplus eurycercus
Melanoplus femurrubrum
Melanoplus hubbelli
Melanoplus impudicus
Melanoplus keeleri
Melanoplus keeleri keeleri
Melanoplus keeleri luridus
Melanoplus mirus
Melanoplus n. sp. 35
Melanoplus n. sp. 6
Melanoplus nigrescens
Melanoplus nossi
Melanoplus nubilus
Melanoplus pachycercus
Melanoplus propinquus
Melanoplus punctulatus
Melanoplus punctulatus arboreus
Melanoplus punctulatus punctulatus
Melanoplus sanguinipes
Melanoplus sanguinipes atlanis
Melanoplus sanguinipes defectus
Melanoplus scudderi
Melanoplus serrulatus
Melanoplus similis
Melanoplus strumosus
Melanoplus sylvestris
Melanoplus tribulus
Melanoplus walshii
Paroxya atlantica
Paroxya clavuligera
Booneacris variegata
Dendrotettix australis
Dendrotettix zimmermanni
Stethophyma celatum
Arphia unidentified species
Arphia granulata
Arphia sulphurea
Arphia xanthoptera
Chortophaga australior
Chortophaga viridifasciata
Encoptolophus sordidus
Hippiscus ocelote
Pardalophora apiculata
Pardalophora phoenicoptera
Psinidia fenestralis
Trachyrhachys kiowa
Dissosteira carolina
Spharagemon bolli
Spharagemon cristatum
Spharagemon marmorata
Spharagemon marmorata picta
Trimerotropis maritima
Trimerotropis saxatilis
NC
Records
Melanoplus nubilus
Rehn & Hebard, 1916 - Nubile Melanoplus
Male
Female
Male
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. Rehn and Hebard (1916a) included nubilus in the Decorus species group, which also include M. decorus and M. attentuatus in North Carolina, and M. australis south of our area.
Species Status:
The type specimens were collected in 1911 by Rehn and Hebard in Fayetteville, North Carolina (Rehn and Hebard, 1916a).
Identification
Field Guide Descriptions:
Online Photographs:
BugGuide
, Google
Images
,
iNaturalist
,
GBIF
Technical Description, Adults/Nymphs:
Rehn and Hebard (1916a); Blatchley (1920)
Comments:
A small, short-winged (flightless) grasshopper. Adults are yellowish-green with black markings on the head behind the eye, a black stripe on the sides of the thorax, and black blotches on the dorsal sides of the abdomen. Legs are unmarked. Coloration and pattern are similar to several other species in the Decorus species group (of Rehn and Hebard, 1916a). Nubilus is typically darker than decorus. Rehn and Hebard (1916a) note that the black markings on the sides of the abdomen are particularly large in the males and also state that the dorsal surface is often very black (a condition not evident in many of the specimens that we have examined). The pale markings on the head and thorax are more greenish-yellow in nubilus and do not reach the bright golden-yellow shade found in decorus. The black stripe on the sides of the thorax usually end abruptly where the principal sulcus divides the prozona from the metazona, similar to M. attenuatus but differing from decorus, where it often continues at least shortly onto the metazona (Rehn and Hebard, 1916a). In at least some specimens that we have examined from Lake Waccamaw, however, the stripe is similar to that of decorus. Eotettix pusillus, which co-occurs with decorus, is another similar species but has an unbroken white crescent behind its eye, often has a broken rather than continuous black stripe on the sides of the thorax, and has yellowish rather than greenish hind tibiae.
Structural Features:
Melanoplus nubilus is most safely distinguished from M. decorus and attenuatus by the shape of the expanded end of the male cerci: in nubilus, this knob is subtruncate and partially bifid, whereas it is rounded in decorus and more distinctly bifid in attenuatus but rounded rather than squared off (Rehn and Hebard, 1916a; Blatchley, 1920). The furcula is less than 1/3 as long as the supra-anal plate in nublilus and attenuatus but longer in decorus, whose fingers are also more divergent. The subgenital plate in both nubilus and attenuatus has a submarginal tubercle, whereas in decorus, a tubercle is located at the apex of this plate. (Rehn and Hebard, 1916a; Blatchley, 1920). Eotettix pusillus is also easily distinguished from decorus by its sub-conical cerci and by the shape of its fore-wings, which are nearly circular rather than oval.
Structural photos
Secondary male reproductive structures: M. decorus, Craven Co., 16-June-95, SPH; M. nubilus, Brunswick Co., 25-Aug-95, SPH; M. attentuatus, Richmond County, SC, 10-Aug-93, SPH; Eotettix pusillus, Pender County, 17-April-95, SPH
Nymphal Stages and Development:
Not described
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:
All of our records come from wet longleaf savannas, sandhill seeps, or the ecotones between longleaf and pocosin habitats.
Diet:
As noted by Rehn and Hebard (1916a), individuals are often found up in pocosin shrubs, where they may be feeding, but they also occur out in the low grasses and forbs of the adjoining savannas
Observation Methods:
Adults are diurnal and fairly easy to spot in shrubs or low herbaceous vegetation
Abundance/Frequency:
Often common to abundant, including following burns occurring earlier in the season
Adult Phenology:
Adults have been observed from early July to late October
See also Habitat Account for
Wet, Sandy, Fire-maintained Herblands
Status in North Carolina
Natural Heritage Program Status:
SR
Natural Heritage Program Ranks:
G2G3 S2
State Protection:
Listed as Significantly Rare in North Carolina by the Natural Heritage Program. It has no legal protection, however, although permits are required to collect it on state parks and other public lands.
Comments:
This species is highly associated with wet savannas and sandhill seeps, all of which have greatly declined since Colonial settlement due to conversion to agriculture and silviculture. Since the 1950s, when suppression of wildfires became effective, still more habitat losses have occurred in all but habitats where fire is still frequent, mainly in preserves managed through use of prescribed burns. Unlike moth species associated with the same habitats, Melanoplus nubilus may survive a fire as underground eggs; it is often abundant in savannas following a burn, at least where the burn occurred early in the year. The inability to fly, however, limits its ability to disperse and once gone from a particular site, it may not be able to recolonize if there are no areas of suitable habitat directly connecting it to other occupied areas. Outside of Fort Bragg, many areas in the Sandhills that appear to have suitable habitat are unoccupied, all of which have undergone a prolonged period of fire suppression before fire was restored through prescribed burning. Whereas plants such as Pitcher Plants have recovered at these sites (at least where they were able to hand on in a suppressed state), the insects -- including M. nubilus -- are conspicuously missing. Conversely, this species appears to do fairly well in natural areas that are maintained through use of frequent prescribed burns.
Image Gallery for
Melanoplus nubilus
- Nubile Melanoplus
Recorded by: Steve Hall
Scotland Co.
Comment:
Recorded by: Steve Hall
Scotland Co.
Comment:
Recorded by: Steve Hall
Scotland Co.
Comment:
Recorded by: Steve Hall
Scotland Co.
Comment:
Recorded by: E. Corey, D. Lenat
Cumberland Co.
Comment:
Recorded by: E. Corey, D. Lenat
Cumberland Co.
Comment:
Recorded by: Stephen Hall
Columbus Co.
Comment: Identity confirmed through field inspection of the cerci
Recorded by: Stephen Hall
Harnett Co.
Comment:
Recorded by: Stephen Hall
Harnett Co.
Comment:
Recorded by: Stephen Hall
Brunswick Co.
Comment:
Recorded by: Steve Hall
Brunswick Co.
Comment: 3 adult males, 1 adult female
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