Short-winged Green Grasshopper

A green grasshopper of moist grass and forb habitats, Short-winged Green Grasshopper represents a potential plant-consumer layer in the Prairie; earlier miniBIOTA trials were described as doing poorly, with water limitation proposed but not established.

Dichromorpha viridis (short-winged green grasshopper, green meadow grasshopper) is a small to medium-sized acridid grasshopper native to eastern North America, common in Florida throughout moist and wet grassland habitats. The most distinctive biological feature is its pronounced sexual wing dimorphism: adult males are brachypterous, with wings shortened to approximately half the abdomen length and incapable of flight; adult females are macropterous, with full-length wings that allow dispersal and flight. Both sexes are bright green, providing camouflage in grass and forb vegetation, though a brown color form occurs in some populations.

D. viridis is a grasshopper of moist habitats. It is most commonly found in wet meadows, moist grassland depressions, marshy edges, and the grassy or forb-covered margins of ponds, lakes, and ditches. It is a characteristic species of Lowland Meadow and wet grassland fringe in Florida. It feeds primarily on grasses (Poaceae) and secondarily on forbs (broad-leaved herbaceous plants) at the ground level.

Because males are flightless, male populations are locally persistent within suitable grassland patches; females disperse more readily and can colonize new areas. In South Florida, the warm subtropical climate likely allows year-round activity and multiple generations per year, unlike the single annual generation typical of cooler parts of the range.

In the Lowland Meadow, Short-winged Green Grasshopper functions as a plant-grazing primary consumer, feeding on grasses and forbs at the vegetation ground level. It represents the direct insect herbivore link between Lowland Meadow plant production and insect-feeding predators. Frass production contributes nitrogen to the Lowland Meadow soil. The flightlessness of males means that established local populations may persist within suitable wet meadow patches as long as vegetation cover is maintained.

Introduction: Earlier trials occurred, but their dates and source are unknown.