Devastating Grasshopper

A fully winged species, roughly between 2 and 3 cm long. Basically identical to Melanoplus sanguinipes (but usually a bit more contrasting in coloring) and replacing it near the Pacific Coast. Differs from other species found with it in having males with the subgenital plate notched at the tip, having a tubercle near the front of the lower side of the thorax (roughly between the middle legs - often present but less noticeable on females too), and in details of pattern. Tip of abdomen The distinction from Melanoplus sanguinipes may be artificial, and it is debated whether devastator should be treated as a regional subspecies or a distinct species. While the two look somewhat different, and there are minor differences in shape of parts such as furculae and cerci, the two intergrade where they meet with no obvious reproductive isolation. Environment seems to be the main factor controlling which is found where, with M. devastator being the form found where winter rains are the main driving force in climate and vegetation. M. sanguinipes generally replaces it eastward from the Sierra Nevada / Cascades, northward in Washington, and also in southernmost California, where winters are drier or cold, and largely where summers are more likely to see rainfall.