Grasshopper Species Research Articles

MORPHOFUNCTIONAL ANALYSIS OF HEMOCYTES IN INSECTS (ORTHOPTERA) COLLECTED FROM MURTI AND ADJOINING AREAS (DOOARS) AND DIFFERENT AGRICULTURAL FIELDS OF NORTH 24 PARGANAS, WEST BENGAL

A small village named Murti is situated along the bank of river Murti in Dooars. The adjacent area of murti is rich in insect biodiversity. Knowledge on the diversity and the role of Orthopteran insects in tea ecosystem of West Bengal including Dooars and Terai is very scanty. Hemocytes are the chief immune cells of insects. The number and shape of hemocytes can change rapidly in response to environmental stress and pollution. Grasshopper (Orthoptera) species were collected from Murti and adjoining areas and from different agricultural fields of North 24 Parganas (West Bengal). Hemolymph was stained by Giemsa, and Neutral Red. Cellular morphology and phagocytosis was examined. Normal cell shape and behavioural activities like phagocytosis, cell-cell fusion was observed in insects collected from Murti, and adjoining areas of Dooars. But in case of insect hemocytes isolated from different agricultural fields of North 24 Parganas and its adjacent sites showed altered shape and different phases of cell death like degeneration of nuclei, formation of membrane blebs and rupture of plasma membrane. Toxic environmental pollutants may be responsible for alteration of hemocytes size and function which may effect on biodiversity. Hemocytes can be used as an effective bio-indicator by which the health of the ecosystem can be screened.

Grasshopper diversity in several agricultural areas and savannas in Dompu, Sumbawa Island, Indonesia

Abstract. Leksono AS, Yanuwiadi B, Khotimah A, Zairina A. 2021. Grasshopper diversity in several agricultural areas and savannas in Dompu, Sumbawa Island, Indonesia. Biodiversitas 23: 75-80. In Sumbawa Island, the conversion of forests and savannahs into agricultural land has increased rapidly since 2010. This research aims to compare grasshopper species' abundance, richness, and diversity between several farmland and savannas in Dompu, Sumbawa Island. It was conducted at ten locations in Dompu, Sumbawa Island, and included an ecotone, two post-harvested rice farms, two post-harvested corn farms, a mixed farm, a vegetable farm, and three savannas. Furthermore, samples were taken four times from four plots at each location in the post-harvest period from August to September 2021. Grasshopper sampling was carried out using the sweeping method with an insect net with each plot size of 2 x 10 m2. A total of 2264 individual grasshoppers belonging to 30 species and four families were collected from all research sites. The dominant species were Alloteratura sp., Trilophidia annulata, Atractomorpha crenulata, Phlaeoba fumosa, Oxya japonica and, Phlaeoba infumata. The greatest grasshopper species richness and diversity were found in post-harvest rice farms, while the lowest was in the vegetable farm, and most of these species are considered pests. This research shows that the composition of grasshoppers on agricultural land is very similar to that of the adjacent savannah. Hence, monitoring and controlling their presence is necessary by paying attention to savannas as refuge land.

Stable inversion clines in a grasshopper species group despite complex geographical history.

Chromosomal inversions are known to play roles in adaptation and differentiation in many species. They involve clusters of correlated genes (i.e., loci in linkage disequilibrium, LD) possibly associated with environmental variables. The grasshopper "species complex" Trimerotropis pallidipennis comprises several genetic lineages distributed from North to South America in arid and semi-arid high-altitude environments. The southernmost lineage, Trimerotropis sp., segregates for four to seven putative inversions that display clinal variation, possibly through adaptation to temperate environments. We analysed chromosomal, mitochondrial and genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism data in 19Trimerotropis sp. populations mainly distributed along two altitudinal gradients (MS and Ju). Populations across Argentina comprise two main chromosomally and genetically differentiated lineages: one distributed across the southernmost border of the "Andes Centrales," adding evidence for a differentiation hotspot in this area; and the other widely distributed in Argentina. Within the latter, network analytical approaches to LD found three clusters of correlated loci (LD-clusters), with inversion karyotypes explaining >79% of the genetic variation. Outlier loci associated with environmental variables mapped to two of these LD-clusters. Furthermore, despite the complex geographical history indicated by population genetic analyses, the clines in inversion karyotypes have remained stable for more than 20generations, implicating their role in adaptation and differentiation within this lineage. We hypothesize that these clines could be the consequence of a coupling between extrinsic postzygotic barriers and spatially varying selection along environmental gradients resulting in a hybrid zone. These results provide a framework for future investigations about candidate genes implicated in rapid adaptation to new environments.

Taxonomical clarification of Tetrix gibberosa (Wang amp; Zheng), a high-backed pygmy grasshopper species from eastern PR China (Orthoptera: Tetrigidae).

Tetrix gibberosa (Wang Zheng) is a high-backed pygmy grasshopper species from eastern PR China. Due to its reduced hind wings and pleomorphism (length changes of hind wings and the hind pronotal process, which is generally called macropterous and brachypterous morphs), the species have been described into different species which involve several taxonomically confused genera. This study clarifies its taxonomy and distribution and provides ecological information for the species. At the same time, we comment the relationships of related genera in the subfamily Tetriginae, including Tetrix Latreille, Exothotettix Zheng Jiang, Alulatettix Liang, Aalatettix Zheng Mao, Formosatettix Tinkham, and Formosatettixoides Zheng. Additionally, we report for the first time that nematodes can parasitize pygmy grasshoppers. New synonyms are proposed: Tetrix gibberosa (Wang Zheng, 1993) = Alulatettix bulbosus Zheng Zhong, 2001, syn. nov., = Exothotettix jiangxiensis Liang Jia, 2008, syn. nov., = Tetrix glochinota Zhao, Niu Zheng, 2010, syn. nov., = Alulatettix nigromarginalis Zhang, Deng Zha, 2014, syn. nov., = Alulatettix flavotibialis Zhang, Deng Zha, 2014, syn. nov..

Neopedies taimensis n. sp. of Brazilian Dichroplini (Orthoptera: Acrididae, Melanoplinae) from Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil.

Neopedies taimensis n. sp. is described as a new species of grasshopper from the genus Neopedies Hebard, 1931 collected in Taim Ecological Station, State of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. This description is supported with photographs that detail the male and female external and internal morphological characteristics. The new species differs from the other species known by furculae developed and sclerotized, epiproct with two protuberances, cerci quadrangular indented and sclerotized, ancorae developed and lophi with posterior projections divergent. In addition, we present habitat notes, geographic distribution, key to the species of genus and chromosome complement. Chromosome analyses were performed using standard staining procedures, showing diploid number of 2n = 23, X0/24, XX and the karyotype made up of exclusively acrocentric chromosomes.

Establishing the nutritional landscape and macronutrient preferences of a major United States rangeland pest, Melanoplus sanguinipes, in field and lab populations

When given a choice, most animals will self-select an optimal blend of nutrients that maximizes growth and reproduction (termed “intake target” or IT). For example, several grasshopper and locust species select a carbohydrate-biased IT, consuming up to double the amount of carbohydrate relative to protein, thereby increasing growth, survival, and migratory capacity. ITs are not static, and there is some evidence they can change through ontogeny, with activity, and in response to environmental factors. However, little research has investigated how these factors influence the relative need for different nutrients and how subsequent shifts in ITs affect the capacity of animals to acquire an optimal diet in nature. In this study, we determined the ITs of 5th instar (final juvenile stage) Melanoplus sanguinipes (Fabricius, 1798), a prevalent crop and rangeland grasshopper pest in the United States, using two wild populations and one lab colony. We simultaneously collected host plants to determine the nutritional landscapes available to the wild populations and measured the performance of the lab colony on restricted diets. Overall, we found that the diet of the wild populations was more carbohydrate-biased than their lab counterparts, as has been found in other grasshopper species, and that their ITs closely matched their nutritional landscape. However, we also found that M. sanguinipes had the lowest performance metrics when feeding on the highest carbohydrate diets, whereas more balanced diets or protein-rich diets had higher performance metrics. This research may open avenues for studying how management strategies coincide with nutritional physiology to develop low-dose treatments specific to the nutritional landscape for the pest of interest.

Discovering insect species based on photographs only: The case of a nameless species of the genus Scaria (Orthoptera: Tetrigidae)

A heated debate on whether a new species should be described without a physical specimen, i.e., by designating a photographed specimen to serve as a holotype, has been ongoing for a long time. Herewith, without nomenclatural actions, a new species of the Batrachidein pygmy grasshoppers belonging to the genus Scaria Bolívar, 1887 is identified from the Andean rainforest in Peru. This species is clearly different from all its congeners by morphology and coloration. Two individuals of this peculiar species are known only from the photographs found on iNaturalist. The species has not been observed since 2008 when the photographs were taken. A short historical overview of the topic is given, illustrating the pros and cons of photograph-based species description. The concepts of names, holotypes, research effort, and conservation are discussed and related to the problem at hand. The current state of the taxonomic community’s beliefs regarding this issue is reflected by the authors’ three unsuccessful attempts to name this new species.

Phenology dictates the impact of climate change on geographic distributions of six co-occurring North American grasshoppers.

Throughout the last century, climate change has altered the geographic distributions of many species. Insects, in particular, vary in their ability to track changing climates, and it is likely that phenology is an important determinant of how well insects can either expand or shift their geographic distributions in response to climate change. Grasshoppers are an ideal group to test the hypothesis that phenology correlates with range expansion, given that co‐occurring confamilial, and even congeneric, species can differ in phenology. Here, I tested the hypothesis that early‐ and late‐season species should possess different range expansion potentials, as estimated by habitat suitability from ecological niche models. I used nine different modeling techniques to estimate habitat suitability of six grasshopper species of varying phenology under two climate scenarios for the year 2050. My results suggest that, of the six species examined here, early‐season species were more sensitive to climate change than late‐season species. The three early‐season species examined here might shift northward during the spring, while the modeled geographic distributions of the three late‐season species were generally constant under climate change, likely because they were pre‐adapted to hot and dry conditions. Phenology might therefore be a good predictor of how insect distributions might change in the future, but this hypothesis remains to be tested at a broader scale.

Embryonic Development of Grasshopper Populations Along Latitudinal Gradients Reveal Differential Thermoaccumulation for Adaptation to Climate Warming

Climate warming has a remarkable effect on the distribution, phenology, and development of insects. Although the embryonic development and phenology of non-diapause grasshopper species are more susceptible to warming than those of diapause species, the responses of developmental traits in conspecifically different populations to climate warming remain unknown. Here, we compared the mtDNA sequences and embryonic development of eight populations of grasshopper species (Chorthippus dubius) in field-based manipulated warming and laboratory experiments. The mtDNA sequences showed a significant genetic differentiation of the southernmost population from the other seven populations on the Mongolian Plateau. The embryonic development of the southernmost population was significantly slower than those of the northern populations at the same incubation temperatures. Interestingly, laboratory experiments showed that a significant difference exists in the effective accumulated degree days (EADD) but not in the lower development threshold temperatures (LDTT) among the different populations. The high-latitude populations required less EADD than the low-latitude populations. The warming treatments significantly accelerated the embryonic development in the field and decreased duration from embryos to hatchlings of all eight populations in the incubation. In addition, warming treatments in field significantly increased EADD requirement per stage in the incubation. Linear regression model confirmed that the embryonic development characteristics of eight populations were correlated with the annual mean temperature and total precipitation of embryonic development duration. The results indicated that grasshopper species have evolved a strategy of adjusting their EADD but not their LDTT to adapt to temperature changes. The variations in the EADD among the different populations enabled the grasshopper eggs to buffer the influences of higher temperatures on development and preserve their univoltine nature in temperate regions while encountering warmer climatic conditions. Thus, the findings of this study is valuable for our understanding species variation and evolution, and as such has direct implication for modeling biological response to climate warming.

Keragaman Jenis Belalang (Orthoptera) di Persawahan Desa Beringin Kencana Kecamatan Tabunganen

Grasshoppers act as pests and act as predators, scavengers, and decomposers of organic matter. In maintaining the ecosystem of rice fields, grasshoppers have a very important role in maintaining their balance. The purpose of this study was to describe the diversity of grasshoppers (Orthoptera) in the rice fields of Beringin Kencana Village, Tabunganen District. The research methods used is a descriptive method with sampling using roaming techniques with line transect methods. The results obtained 9 species of grasshoppers, namely Oxya chinensis, Mantis religiosa, Gesonula mundata, Conocephalus fasciatus, Conocephalus discolor, Phlaeoba fomusa, Aiopolus thalassinus, Acrida conica, and Scudderia furcata. The grasshopper diversity index is 1.83 including the medium diversity category.

Mechanism of sound production by the Chinese grasshopper Acrida cinerea (Orthoptera: Acrididae) during flight

AbstractMany species of grasshoppers in subfamilies Oedipodinae, Gomphocerinae and Acridinae make sounds when they escape by flying. We carried out four kinds of experiments with the Chinese grasshopper, Acrida cinerea (Orthoptera: Acrididae: Acridinae), whose males often make sounds while flying, to examine the mechanism of sound production during flight by grasshoppers. First, we recorded high‐speed video and audio of the tethered flight of the males and found that they produced sounds when they clapped their hindwings together at the end of the upstroke. Second, we recorded the tethered flights of the males when we prevented them from clapping their hindwings to clarify whether the hindwing clapping produced the sounds, and we found that the obstruction of clapping hindwings prevented sound production by the males. Third, we recorded the free flight of the males and determined whether the sound produced by clapping hindwings was not specific to the tethered condition. The males clapped their hindwings during free flight, and sounds were produced when they clapped their hindwings. Finally, we observed the tethered and free flights of the females because the possibility of crepitation flight by the females existed, and we found that sound was produced by females clapping their hindwings during flight. These results showed that male A. cinerea make sounds during flight by clapping their hindwings, and females also have the ability to make sounds by using the same mechanism. This study provides the first experimental evidence on the mechanism of sound production during flight through observing the behaviors of grasshoppers.

Haemocyte variations in 35 species of grasshoppers and locusts.

Grasshoppers and locusts are widely distributed worldwide, causing significant losses in agriculture. The origin and functions of their haemocytes are not entirely understood. Insect haemocytes arbitrate cellular defence and participate in humoral defences. Due to their importance, the haemocytes of 35 species of grasshoppers and locusts from China were morphologically examined in this study. We aim to highlight a simple method for the morphological examination of insect haemocytes. The haemocytes were observed, counted and compared under a light microscope after Wright-Giemsa staining. High complexity in form and shape were observed in the haemocytes. These include prohaemocytes, plasmatocytes, granulocytes, vermicytes, podocytes and megakaryocytes. No clear relationship was seen between the haemocyte type and their phylogenetic relationship among the three families examined. The high abundance of plasmatocytes and granulocytes suggests their importance in the immunity of grasshoppers and locusts. The minor haemocyte populations including prohaemocytes, vermicytes and podocytes may not be always present in individuals. All examined species shared similarities in their haemocyte types. Wright-Giemsa staining is a simple and efficient method for evaluating haemocytes.

Pattern of plant communities' influence to grasshopper abundance distribution in heterogeneous landscapes at the upper reaches of Heihe River, Qilian Mountains, China.

Understanding the impact of the heterogeneity of the ecological environment on biodiversity is a key issue in ecology. Topographical heterogeneity was potentially important in grassland systems to create or change habitats for grasshopper settlement and foraging. Yet, there was little knowledge of how grasshopper communities respond to plant communities along the altitude gradient. We investigated the role of plant communities on grasshopper diversity with geostatistical methods to test the effects of heterogeneity in the natural grassland on the upper reaches of the Heihe River, Qilian Mountains. To aim the goal of the study, nonreturn experiments were used to collect the grasshoppers' diversity and populations, and the plant's community was sampled at the same location. The results showed that the semivariograms of grasshopper abundance and plant communities were both nonlinear models, while the grasshopper abundance typically produces heterogeneity with a larger range and nuggets than plant communities (except the plant coverage range in the model, range <1.5 m). The two communities presented the spatial distribution pattern of aggregated distribution, and the spatial trend is more intense in the northeast-southwest direction than in the northwest-southeast. The grasshopper species developed a good selection on microenvironment to habitat and the distribution consistent with plants, forming the horizontal distribution with a flaky and plaque distribution pattern. The relationship between grasshoppers and plants was highly dependent on the altitude, and grasshopper abundance has a positive correlation with plant richness (F = 0.68) and plant coverage (F = 0.32) and has a negative correlation with plant height (F = 0.13). In summary, the spatial distribution and correlation characteristics of plant communities and grasshoppers formed a plaque heterogeneity structure under the altitude gradients.

Effects of Soil Temperature and Moisture on the Development and Survival of Grasshopper Eggs in Inner Mongolian Grasslands

Grasshopper eggs overwinter in soil for almost half a year. Changes in soil temperature and moisture have a substantial effect on grasshopper eggs, especially temperature and moisture extremes. However, the combinatorial effect of temperature and moisture on the development and survival of grasshopper eggs has not been well studied. Here, we examined the effects of different soil moistures (2, 5, 8, 11, 14% water content) at 26°C and combinations of extreme soil moisture and soil temperature on the egg development and survival of three dominant species of grasshopper (Dasyhippus barbipes, Oedaleus asiaticus, and Chorthippus fallax) in Inner Mongolian grasslands. Our data indicated that the egg water content of the three grasshopper species was positively correlated with soil moisture but negatively correlated with hatching time. The relationship between hatching rate and soil moisture was unimodal. Averaged across 2 and 11% soil moisture, a soil temperature of 35oCsignificantly advanced the egg hatching time of D. barbipes, O. asiaticus, and C. fallax by 5.63, 4.75, and 2.63 days and reduced the egg hatching rate of D. barbipes by 18%. Averaged across 26 and 35°C, 2% soil moisture significantly delayed the egg hatching time of D. barbipes, O. asiaticus, and C. fallax by 0.69, 11.01, and 0.31 days, respectively, and decreased the egg hatching rate of D. barbipes by 10%. The hatching time was prolonged as drought exposure duration increased, and the egg hatching rate was negatively correlated with drought exposure duration, except for O. asiaticus. Overall, the combination of high soil temperature and low soil moisture had a significantly negative effect on egg development, survival, and egg hatching. Generally, the response of grasshopper eggs to soil temperature and moisture provides important information on the population dynamics of grasshoppers and their ability to respond to future climate change.

Habitat availability and climate warming drive changes in the distribution of grassland grasshoppers

Land use and climate change are considered the major drivers of current insect declines. However, in intensively used agricultural landscapes the impacts of both on Orthoptera (hereinafter termed ‘grasshoppers’) are still poorly understood. We analysed grasshopper assemblages in two grassland types (patches, N = 63 and verges, N = 118) by comparing two surveys – one in 1995 and one in 2012 – in an agricultural landscape of the NW-German Lowland. Despite the short time period between the two surveys, we detected strong changes in environmental conditions and grasshopper assemblages. In contrast to grassland verges, grassland patches suffered from severe habitat loss. More than a quarter of all grassland patches were converted to other biotope types, in particular, arable fields cropped with maize. Additionally, summer temperatures rose by 1.1 °C. Species richness and the Community Temperature Index also increased in grassland patches and verges. By contrast, the Community Farmland Index decreased. The ongoing cultivation of maize as a bioenergy crop was responsible for a severe loss of grassland patches leading to a homogenization at the landscape level. However, due to the high connectivity of grasslands, thermophilous and generalistic grasshopper species with both low and high dispersal ability were able to track global warming. Based on our study, (i) the availability of suitable habitats and (ii) climate warming were the major drivers of grasshopper assemblage shifts. With the ongoing loss of grassland patches, grassland verges become increasingly important not only as dispersal corridors, but also as refuges for biodiversity.

Genome Size Estimation and Full-Length Transcriptome of Sphingonotus tsinlingensis: Genetic Background of a Drought-Adapted Grasshopper.

Sphingonotus Fieber, 1852 (Orthoptera: Acrididae), is a grasshopper genus comprising approximately 170 species, all of which prefer dry environments such as deserts, steppes, and stony benchlands. In this study, we aimed to examine the adaptation of grasshopper species to arid environments. The genome size of Sphingonotus tsinlingensis was estimated using flow cytometry, and the first high-quality full-length transcriptome of this species was produced. The genome size of S. tsinlingensis is approximately 12.8 Gb. Based on 146.98 Gb of PacBio sequencing data, 221.47 Mb full-length transcripts were assembled. Among these, 88,693 non-redundant isoforms were identified with an N50 value of 2,726 bp, which was markedly longer than previous grasshopper transcriptome assemblies. In total, 48,502 protein-coding sequences were identified, and 37,569 were annotated using public gene function databases. Moreover, 36,488 simple tandem repeats, 12,765 long non-coding RNAs, and 414 transcription factors were identified. According to gene functions, 61 cytochrome P450 (CYP450) and 66 heat shock protein (HSP) genes, which may be associated with drought adaptation of S. tsinlingensis, were identified. We compared the transcriptomes of S. tsinlingensis and two other grasshopper species which were less tolerant to drought, namely Mongolotettix japonicus and Gomphocerus licenti. We observed the expression of CYP450 and HSP genes in S. tsinlingensis were higher. We produced the first full-length transcriptome of a Sphingonotus species that has an ultra-large genome. The assembly characteristics were better than those of all known grasshopper transcriptomes. This full-length transcriptome may thus be used to understand the genetic background and evolution of grasshoppers.

A quantitative approach for the design of robust and cost-effective conservation policies under uncertain climate change: The case of grasshopper conservation in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany

Climate is a major determinant of the world's distribution of biodiversity and species ranges are expected to shift as the climate changes. For conservation policies to be cost-effective in the long run these changes need to be taken into account. To some extent, policies can be adapted over time, but transaction costs, lock-in effects and path dependence limit the extent to which such adaptation is possible. Thus it is desirable that conservation policies be designed so that they are cost-effective in the long run even without future adaptations. Given that the future climate change is highly uncertain, the policies need to be robust to climatic uncertainty. In this paper we present an approach for the robustness analysis with regard to the cost-effectiveness of conservation policies in the face of uncertain climate change. The approach is applied to the conservation of a grasshopper species in the German federal state of Schleswig-Holstein. For the assessment of the cost-effectiveness of considered policies we develop a climate-ecological-economic model. We show that in the near future all considered policies have a similar level of robustness, while in the more distant future the policies differ substantially in their robustness and a trade-off emerges between the expected performance and robustness of a policy.

New genus and new species of leaf-mimic pygmy grasshoppers from China (Orthoptera: Tetrigidae: Cladonotinae).

Many species of pygmy grasshoppers (Tetrigidae) exhibit leaf-like appearance, leaf-mimic pygmy grasshoppers mainly characterized by having high pronotal crest (= elevated median carina). A new genus of leaf-mimic Cladonotinae, Deltonotusoides gen. nov., and a new species, Deltonotusoides strictivertex sp. nov. are described from Motuo, Xizang, China.

Grasshoppers in steppe areas of the south-eastern West Siberian Plain: Centennial transformations of biodiversity

The goal of this paper is to evaluate some general trends of species range shifts in the steppe areas of the south-eastern West Siberian Plain. Two sets of distribution data of grasshoppers are compared: (1) for the first half of 20th century and (2) for 1972 – 2019. A series of digital maps was generated by Map Info. Shifts of species distribution patterns are discussed. All grasshopper species may be split into three groups: (1) acridids without evident changes in their distribution; (2) species with local range boundaries shifted northwards and northeastwards; new colonies of such forms are usually found in the northern steppe and even in the forest-steppe and/or on the right side of the Ob River; (3) grasshoppers which became rare. Among them is the Siberian grasshopper, the very common pest in the first half of the 20th century. Some changes into grasshopper distribution may be associated with global warming, but others can be explained by regional and local variations in human activities. Extension, intensification, and changes of human activities may result in continuous elimination of some local populations. This means that the general strategy of management of acridid assemblages and populations should incorporate both data and technologies concerning rare species populations and new approaches to pest control and monitoring.

Dietary differences between grasshoppers are associated with life history tradeoffs in an alpine meadow

AbstractDietary differences are often observed among generalist herbivores co‐occurring in the same community. However, the factors underlying the differences remain poorly understood. In the context of insect herbivores, we hypothesized that interspecific dietary differences are associated with life history traits. Specifically, we hypothesized that the size of wings as well as gender participate in defining dietary preferences, that is, long‐winged species and males will tend to forage on plants with high C/N to maximize dispersal and mating, whereas short‐winged species and females will forage on N‐rich plants to maximize egg production. We tested this hypothesis by examining the diets of the males and females of three long‐winged and two short‐winged grasshopper species in an alpine meadow. The dietary composition and relative abundance of each species were determined using DNA meta‐barcoding. The data showed that the consumed plant species were similar among all of the grasshopper species and between the males and females. However, quantitative differences in the diets were significant between the long‐winged and short‐winged guilds and between the males and females of each species. Consistent with the hypothesis, (1) the long‐winged species fed more on monocots with high C/N, whereas the short‐winged species fed more on legumes with high N contents, (2) for each short‐winged species the males fed more on monocots with high C/N compared to the females, and (3) across all grasshopper species, egg numbers were positively associated with the weighted dietary N. These data indicate that the dietary preferences of these generalist grasshoppers are associated with life history tradeoffs.