Annotated Bibliography on Taeniopoda species of large lubber grasshopper of Peten, Guatemala

Photo taken in a road from Parque Naranjo to Rio Holmul by Nicholas Hellmuth.

Friendly Insects in Parque Nacional Yaxha Nakum Naranjo, Peten, Guatemala

I must admit that I enjoy finding and studying the remarkable insects of the Yaxha national park. The first day we arrived for the first field trip (April 2018) my favorite GiANT cockroach, Blaberus giganteus was in one of the rooms: these huge cockroach-like creatures are frequently pictured on bowls, vases, and plates of the Late Classic ceramics.

Every month we find and photograph additional unusual insects, such as arboreal ants whose nests have stingless bee nests inside. Teco helped us find about nine such dual-occupancy arboreal ant nests around Yaxha.

Pretty butterflies are everywhere, especially the giant blue morpho butterfly. But the first week of July 2019 we found lots of butterflies sizes, shapes, and colors that we had not noticed in the park before. So this web page introduces them, a lupper grasshopper.

These large grasshoppers are armored better than any Superhero

What drew my attention to these grasshoppers, more than their substantial size, is the “armor” on many parts of their body.

At least three species of large “armored” grasshoppers can be found in Petén, Guatemala, according to De Jesús et al. (2017) and Hebard (1924):

Taeniopoda auricornis
Taeniopoda centurio
Taeniopoda obscura

Taeniopoda ståli Bruner has been documented for a part of El Salvador not far from Guatemala (Rowell and Behrstock 2012).

The family is Romaleidae.

Marcella Sarti estimates that the grasshopper we photographed around the Naranjo sector of the PNYNN in July was Taeniopoda obscura.

PDF, Articles, Books on Taeniopoda sp. of large solitary Grasshoppers

BRUNER, Lawrence, MORSE, Albert and Robert SHELFORD
1909
Biologia Centrali-americana. Insecta: Orthoptera. Vol. II. 444 pages.

Available online:
https://archive.org/details/biologiacentrali52godmrich/page/n4

DE JESÚS-Bonilla Vladimir, BARRIENTOS-Lozano, Ludivina and Alejandro ZALDÍVAR-Riverón
2017
Sequence-based species delineation and molecular phylogenetics of the transitional Neartic-Neotropical grasshopper genus Taeniopoda (Orthoptera, Romaleidae). Systematics and Biodiversity. Vol. 15, No. 6. Pages 600-617.

Available online:
www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14772000.2017.1313792

HEBARD, Morgan
1924
A revision of the genus Taeniopoda (Orthoptera, Acrididae, Cyrtacanthacrinae). Transactions of the American Entomological Society. Vol. 50, No. 4. Pages 253-274.

Sold online:
www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/25077112.pdf?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents

MEDINA, Jorge, MAYÉN, Rosaura, MARIÑO, Ricardo and Hojun SONG
2019
Morphology and phylogenetic position of two new gregarine species (Apicomplexa: Eugregarinorida) Parasitizing the Lubber Grasshopper Taeniopoda centurio (Drury, 1770) (Insecta: Orthoptera. Romaleidae) in Mexico. Journal of Eukaryotic Microbiology. Pages 1-14.

Available online:
www.researchgate.net/publication/333978062_Morphology_and_Phylogenetic_
Position_of_Two_New_Gregarine_Species_Apicomplexa_Eugregarinorida_
Parasitizing_the_Lubber_Grasshopper_Taeniopoda_centurio_Drury_1770_
Insecta_Orthoptera_Romaleidae_in_Mexico

MITSUHASHI, Jun
2016
Edible insects of the world. CRC Press. 296 pages.

PAUL, Aman, FREDERICH, Michel, UYTTENBROECK, Roel, HATT, Séverin, MALIK, Priyanka, LEBECQUE, Simon, HAMAIDIA, Malik, MIAZEL, Krystian, GOFFIN, Dorothée, WILLEMS, Luc, DELEU, Magali, FAUCONNIER, Marie, RICHEL, Aurore, DE PAUW, Edwin, BLECKER, Christophe, MONTY, Arnaud, FRANCIS, Frederic, HAUBRUGE, Eric and Sabine DANTHINE
2016
Grasshoppers as a food source? A review. Biotechnol. Agron. Soc. Environ. Vol. 20, No. S1. Pages 337-352.

Available online:
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/d709/f9469406f11e225647974e4601199d2b210d.pdf

RAMOS, Julieta, PINO, José and Víctor MARTÍNEZ
2012
Could Grasshoppers be a nutritive meal? Food and Nutrition Sciences. No. 3. Pages 164-175.

Available online:
www.scirp.org/pdf/fns20120200005_20348364.pdf

ROWELL, C. H. F. and Robert A. BEHRSTOCK
2012
Additions to the Acridoid Grasshopper Fauna of El Salvador. Journal of Orthoptera Research, 21(2): 235-243, Orthopterists' Society.

Lists and has photograph of one species of Taeniopoda, Taeniopoda ståli Bruner. The photographs in this article are significantly better than in most research reports: each grasshopper is nicely illuminated in a natural way, in situ (on a leaf) and published at a nice size, in full color.