The Eastern Lubber Grasshopper (Romalea guttata, also known as Romalea microptera) is one of the most distinctive, unmissable, and downright fascinating insects found in the southeastern United States.
Here is a breakdown of the essential profile data, followed by the most remarkable facts about this giant regional species.
Key Profile Facts – Eastern Lubber Grasshopper
Scientific Name – Romalea guttata (syn. Romalea microptera)
Family – Romaleidae (Lubber Grasshoppers)
Size – Females: 2.75 to 3.5 inches (70–90 mm), Males: 2.0 to 2.5 inches (50–65 mm)
Geographic Range – Southeastern US (North Carolina south to Florida, west to central Texas)
Habitat – Pine woods, fields, ditches, swamps, and residential gardens
Diet – Polyphagous herbivore (consumes broadleaf plants, weeds, citrus, and ornamentals)
1. They are Toxic and Foul-Tasting
Lubbers consume a wide variety of plants containing secondary chemical compounds that are toxic to vertebrates. They sequester (store) these chemicals in their bodies. If a bird, small mammal, or lizard tries to eat an adult lubber, the insect tastes incredibly bitter and can cause severe vomiting or even death in smaller predators.
2. A Literal Meaning of “Lubber”
The word “lubber” comes from an old English term meaning a clumsy, lazy, or bulky person (think of the nautical term “landlubber”). It is an incredibly accurate name. Because of their massive body mass and relatively short legs, these grasshoppers are slow, clumsy movers that walk rather than jump.
3. Flightless Giants
While they possess wings, adult Eastern Lubbers cannot fly. Their wings are remarkably short—usually covering only about half of the abdomen—and are structurally incapable of lifting their heavy bodies into the air. They use their wings primarily for displays and sound generation rather than locomotion.
4. A Dramatic Chemical Defense Spray
When threatened, a lubber doesn’t just rely on tasting bad; it actively defends itself. It can emit a loud, hissing sound while forcing a foul-smelling, frothy, yellowish chemical spray from spiracles (breathing pores) on its thorax. This spray contains a mix of phenols and quinones that can irritate a predator’s eyes and skin.
5. Striking Aposematic Coloration
Because they are highly toxic, lubbers want predators to see them easily. This strategy is called aposematic (warning) coloration. As adults, they are typically bright yellow or orange with bold black accents, signaling to birds that they are not a safe snack.
6. Dramatic Goth-Like Nymphs
Before reaching their colorful adult stage, lubber nymphs (the immature stages) look completely different. They are almost entirely jet-black with a brilliant yellow, orange, or red stripe running down their backs and framing their faces. They often congregate in large, highly visible clusters on plants.
7. Immune to the Fabled Shrike
While most birds completely avoid adult lubbers, the Loggerhead Shrike (Lanius ludovicianus) has figured out a brilliant workaround. The shrike catches the grasshopper and impales it onto a thorn, twig, or barbed wire fence. It then leaves the insect there for 24 to 48 hours. This delay allows the internal toxins to safely degrade, after which the shrike returns to eat it completely unharmed.
8. Destructive Garden Addicts
Because they are highly polyphagous, lubbers eat an enormous variety of vegetation. While they rarely cause major damage to vast agricultural fields, a localized population can completely devastate a residential garden or backyard landscape in days. They are particularly drawn to amaryllis, crinum lilies, citrus leaves, and tender vegetable crops.
| Romalea | |
|---|---|
,_mating.jpg) | |
| R. microptera, mating | |
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Clade: | Pancrustacea |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Orthoptera |
| Suborder: | Caelifera |
| Family: | Romaleidae |
| Subfamily: | Romaleinae |
| Tribe: | Romaleini |
| Genus: | Romalea Serville, 1831 |
| Species: | R. microptera |
| Binomial name | |
| Romalea microptera (Palisot de Beauvois, 1817) | |
| Synonyms | |
| |
Romalea is a genus of grasshoppers native to the Southeastern and South-central United States. As traditionally defined, it contains a single species, Romalea microptera, known commonly as the Georgia thumper, eastern lubber grasshopper, Florida lubber, or Florida lubber grasshopper, although some recent authorities regard Taeniopoda as a junior synonym, in which case there are about a dozen Romalea species in the southern United States, Mexico and Central America.[2]
R. microptera is one of the most distinctive grasshopper species within the Southeastern US, and is well known for its relatively large size and its unique coloration.[3]
Taxonomy
Romalea is the type genus of the family Romaleidae and tribe Romaleini. It has been suggested that the valid name for Romalea microptera is Romalea guttata.[4] However, microptera has been marked as a nomen protectum by the ICZN, making guttata a synonym.[5]
As traditionally defined, Romalea only contains the species R. microptera, but recent authorities regard Taeniopoda as a synonym, in which case there are about a dozen Romalea species.[2][6] Romalea and Taeniopoda have generally been separated based on color and pronotum, but more comprehensive morphological data and genetic data do not support their separation.[6] Their wild distributions do not overlap, but in captivity R. microptera can produce fertile hybrids at least with T. eques (western horse lubber grasshopper), showing their very close relations.[7]
Life cycle
R. microptera grows through several stages, like all insects. When in the nymph stage, it is smaller than in the adult stage, wingless, and completely black except for one or more yellow, orange, or red stripes. The adult stage has wings that are half the length of its body, and become either a dull yellow often characterized by black spots and markings, a bright orange with black markings, or entirely black (as in the nymph stage) with yellow or red striping. In the black adult color phase, the grasshopper is widely known by the name "diablo" or "black diablo". In Louisiana, they are known as the "devil's horse" or cheval-diable. The insect is also colloquially known as a "graveyard grasshopper". In Mississippi, they are known as the "giant locust".[8]
Range
R. microptera inhabits regions west of North Carolina to Tennessee, in Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Arkansas, and Texas, and throughout Florida. They live in open pinewoods, weedy vegetation, and weedy fields.[3]
Size and wings
R. microptera and Taeniopoda eques (western horse lubber grasshopper) are the largest grasshoppers in the United States.[7] Adult males of R. microptera typically are 4.3–5.5 cm (1.7–2.2 in) long and adult females 5–7 cm (2.0–2.8 in) long, but can exceptionally reach 9 cm (3.5 in).[3] Their wings are rarely half the length of the abdomen; most of the time, they are much smaller, and cannot be used for flight.[3]
Defense
R. microptera has several defense strategies. The first is its brightly colored pattern (aposematism) to warn predators that it is unpleasant tasting. The second is that it emits a foul-smelling and foul-tasting, foamy secretion from its thorax when it is disturbed. The secretion is dark colored and opaque. The final strategy is that it lets off a loud hissing sound which can scare animals.[3] Whereas most predatory vertebrates avoid R. microptera because of its toxicity, this does not protect it from predatory invertebrates; however, most predatory invertebrates are unable to catch and kill adult R. microptera because of its relatively large size whereas shrikes will bypass the poison by impaling the grasshopper and leaving it on the thorn for days at a time until the poison has degraded.[7]
Research
A quantitative analysis of the distribution of tritium labeled DNA among chromosomes during meiosis in Romalea microptera led to the conclusion that most exchanges reflected breakage and reciprocal exchange between (non-sister) homologous chromatids.[9][clarification needed]
Gallery
Female eastern lubber grasshopper (R. microptera) in Everglades National Park, Florida
Close-up of R. microptera from the Everglades
Nymph R. microptera with its characteristic black and yellow-striped body
Lubber grasshopper, Loxahatchee National Wildlife Refuge, Delray, Florida
Adult dark morph, University of Mississippi Field Station
R. microptera, Fort Myers, Florida
R. microptera at Bear Island Campground in the Big Cypress National Preserve
Louisiana Romalea Grasshopper From Louisiana Wetlands, Lake Pontchartrain.
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References
- ↑ NatureServe (4 October 2024). "Romalea microptera". NatureServe Network Biodiversity Location Data accessed through NatureServe Explorer. Arlington, Virginia: NatureServe. Retrieved 10 October 2024.
- 1 2 "genus Romalea Serville, 1831". orthoptera.speciesfile.org. Retrieved 11 August 2023.
- 1 2 3 4 5 Capinera, John; Scherer, C. W. (October 1996). "eastern lubber grasshopper - Romalea guttata (Houttuyn)". University of Florida. Retrieved March 3, 2021.
- ↑ D. K. M. Kevan (1980). "Romalea guttata (Houttuyn), name change for well-known "eastern lubber grasshopper" (Orthoptera: Romaleidae)". Entomological News. 91 (4): 139–140.
- ↑ "Species Romalea microptera - Eastern Lubber Grasshopper". Bugguide.net. August 1, 2014. Retrieved June 9, 2015.
- 1 2 Jesús-Bonilla, V.S.D.; Barrientos-Lozano, L.; Zaldívar-Riverón, A (2023). "Taxonomic revision of the transitional Nearctic-Neotropical lubber grasshopper genus Romalea (Orthoptera: Romaleidae)". Rev. Mex. Biodiv. 94.
- 1 2 3 Whitman, D.; Vincent, S. (2008). "Large size as an antipredator defense in an insect". Journal of Orthoptera Research. 17 (2): 353–371. doi:10.1665/1082-6467-17.2.353.
- ↑ Fox, Richard (October 6, 2006). "Romalea microptera, Eastern Lubber Grasshopper". Invertebrate Anatomy Online. Lander University. Archived from the original on February 19, 2012. Retrieved April 4, 2011.
- ↑ Taylor, J.H. (1965). "DISTRIBUTION OF TRITIUM-LABELED DNA AMONG CHROMOSOMES DURING MEIOSIS : I. Spermatogenesis in the Grasshopper". Journal of Cell Biology. 25 (2): 57–67. doi:10.1083/jcb.25.2.57. PMC 2106657. PMID 19866667.
External links
Media related to Romalea microptera at Wikimedia Commons- Sarah Sue Goldsmith (May 4, 1999). "Black grasshoppers munch their way across South Louisiana". Louisiana State University.
