Brachaspis collinus

The Green Rock-hopper grasshopper, Brachaspis collinus is an alpine species of short-horned grasshopper in the family Acrididae. It is found in New Zealand in the mountains of northern South Island, above the tree line and as high as 2000 m asl.[1][2][3][4] In New Zealand alpine grasshoppers can freeze solid at any time of the year and are alive when they thaw out when temperatures rise.[5]

Brachaspis collinus
Brachaspis collinus, New Zealand
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Orthoptera
Suborder: Caelifera
Family: Acrididae
Subfamily: Catantopinae
Genus: Brachaspis
Species:
B. collinus
Binomial name
Brachaspis collinus
(Hutton, 1898)

Brachaspis collinus is flightless and adults are relative large (females 32 mm),[1] and common amongst scree and tussock.[6] Although widespread in 2020, about 97% of the habitat of the green rock-hopper grasshopper will be lost due to global warming by 2070.[7] The species is variable in colour; most individuals are green with yellow markings, but some are olive-grey. In the Kaikoura ranges (Mt Luxford) B. collinus hybridises with B. nivalis,[8] but elsewhere the two species are well differentiated.[4]

An endemic species of mite (Erythrites jacksoni) is an ectoparasite of this grasshopper.[9]

The New Zealand alpine green rock-hopper grasshopper, Brachaspis collinus, at Rainbow Ski Field, Nelson Lakes National Park (adult female)
The New Zealand alpine green rock-hopper grasshopper, Brachaspis collinus, at Rainbow Ski Field, Nelson Lakes National Park (adult female)




References
  1. Bigelow, R. S. (1967). The Grasshoppers of New Zealand: Their taxonomy and distribution. Christchurch NZ: Pegasus Press.
  2. "Brachaspis collinus". GBIF. Retrieved 2021-09-09.
  3. Otte, Daniel; Cigliano, Maria Marta; Braun, Holger; Eades, David C. (2020). "species Brachaspis collinus (Hutton, 1898)". Orthoptera species file online, Version 5.0. Retrieved 2020-11-24.
  4. Koot, Emily M.; Morgan-Richards, Mary; Trewick, Steven A. (2020). "An alpine grasshopper radiation older than the mountains, on Kā Tiritiri o te Moana (Southern Alps) of Aotearoa (New Zealand)". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution. 147: 106783. doi:10.1016/j.ympev.2020.106783. ISSN 1055-7903. PMID 32135305. S2CID 212567788.
  5. Hawes, Timothy C. (2015). "Canalization of freeze tolerance in an alpine grasshopper". Cryobiology. 71 (2): 356–359. doi:10.1016/j.cryobiol.2015.07.008. ISSN 0011-2240. PMID 26210007.
  6. Batcheler, C.L. (1967). "Preliminary observations of alpine grasshoppers in a habitat modified by deer and chamois" (PDF). Proceedings of the New Zealand Ecological Society.
  7. Koot, Emily M.; Morgan-Richards, Mary; Trewick, Steven A. (2022). "Climate change and alpine-adapted insects: modelling environmental envelopes of a grasshopper radiation". Royal Society Open Science. 9 (3): 211596. doi:10.1098/rsos.211596. PMC 8889178. PMID 35316945.
  8. Trewick, Steven A. (2001-09-01). "Identity of an endangered grasshopper (Acrididae: Brachaspis): Taxonomy, molecules and conservation". Conservation Genetics. 2 (3): 233–243. doi:10.1023/A:1012263717279. ISSN 1572-9737. S2CID 21828397.
  9. Southcott, Ronald V. (1988). "Two new larval Erythraeinae (Acarina: Erythraeidae) from New Zealand, and the larval Erythraeinae revised". New Zealand Journal of Zoology. 15 (2): 223–233. doi:10.1080/03014223.1988.10422617. ISSN 0301-4223.


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