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POTENTIAL ECONOMIC IMPACT OF RANGELAND GRASSHOPPERS (ACRIDIDAE) IN SOUTHEASTERN ALBERTA

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2012

J. M. Hardman  and
S. Smoliak
J. M. Hardman
Affiliation:
Research Station, Agriculture Canada, Lethbridge, Alberta T1J 4B1
S. Smoliak
Affiliation:
Research Station, Agriculture Canada, Lethbridge, Alberta T1J 4B1
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Abstract

Twenty-six species of grasshoppers were collected from 50 sweep-net samples taken annually in mid-August over the period 1928–1944 on mixed prairie at Manyberries, Alta. Three species, Melanoplus infantilis Scudder, Melanoplus sanguinipes (Fabr.), and Melanoplus packardii Scudder, comprised 79% of the 3041 specimens collected. Published data on the phenologies of the species, their feeding preferences, the forage value of their diets, their habitat preferences, and cases of damage to rangeland were used to assess the potential for economic damage of 17 of the more abundant species. Only two of these species, Melanoplus femur-rubrum femur-rubrum (De Geer) and Melanoplus dawsoni (Scudder), could be regarded as innocuous. The others have the potential to cause economic damage should they become numerous. An additional species, Aerochoreutes carlinianus carlinianus (Thomas), was added to the potentially harmful list because of its reported feeding preferences.

Type
Articles
Information
The Canadian Entomologist , Volume 112 , Issue 3 , 01 March 1980 , pp. 277 - 284
Copyright
Copyright © Entomological Society of Canada 1980

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