by Carl Strang
This year I found longhorn band-winged grasshoppers (Psinidia fenestralis) in Newton County, Indiana, Kenosha County in Wisconsin, and Lake and Cook Counties in Illinois. Previously I had found them in Porter and Marshall Counties, Indiana.
Longhorn band-winged grasshoppers are named for their disproportionately long antennae.
The hind wings of these small grasshoppers usually are bright red.
Two of the newly found populations raised questions. First, at Burnham Prairie in Cook County, they had bright yellow hind wings, in place of the usual red.
I learned that yellow hind wings are known to appear occasionally in the species.
Then I found red-winged ones in the same spot at Illinois Beach State Park where I found insects I had identified as Kiowa rangeland grasshoppers (Trachyrhachys kiowa) in 2014.
That original identification was based on one individual I captured with this wing pattern.
Kiowa rangeland grasshoppers typically have transparent bases in their hind wings, but these can be pale yellow. That fit my photos, and there are historical records for Lake County, Illinois, so I felt that my identification was correct. Now, poring over references and my photos, and going back and forth in my conclusions, I have decided that the 2014 grasshoppers in fact were Psinidia, and the individual I caught was an unusual one with transparent hind wings. The antennae had flattened bases and were as long as the hind femurs, like Psinidia but unlike T. kiowa, which have shorter, finer, rounder antennae. The hind tibias were largely bluish, but had black bands, then yellow, then black at their proximal ends, like Psinidia. Reference photos for kiowa show blue tibias interrupted by yellow bands toward the proximal ends, but no black.
Confusion between these two species is understandable: both are small, and both have heads that protrude above their thoraxes. Unfortunately, this removes the only present-day record I had for Kiowa rangeland grasshoppers in the Chicago region. I still hope to find them, because historical records place them not only in Lake County, Illinois, but also Will County, and Lake, Newton, and Jasper Counties in Indiana.
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