Host Selection by Grasshoppers (Orthoptera: Acrididae) Inhabiting Semi-Aquatic Environments

Through laboratory choice tests involving 19 plant species, we assessed the host selection behavior of six grasshopper species: Stenacris vitreipennis (Marschall) (glassywinged toothpick grasshopper), Leptysma marginicollis (Serville) (cattail toothpick grasshopper), Gymnoscirtetes pusillus Scudder (little wingless grasshopper), Paroxya clavuliger (Serville) (olivegreen swamp grasshopper), Paroxya atlantica Scudder (Atlantic grasshopper), and Romalea microptera (Beauvois) (eastern lubber grasshopper). This grasshopper assemblage is commonly associated with semi-aquatic habitats in the southeastern United States. These poorly studied species display both graminivorous (S. vetreipennis and L. marginicollis) and mixed graminivorous-forbivorous feeding habits (the remaining species), the nature of which are fairly predictable based on examination of mouthpart morphology, but not entirely consistent with the tendency of cyrtacanthacridine species to feed on forbs.