{{Short description|Genus of grasshoppers}} {{Automatic taxobox | image = Romaleidae Tropidacris collaris 1.jpg | image_caption = ''Tropidacris collaris'', mating pair | display_parents = 2 | taxon = Tropidacris | authority = Scudder, 1869 <ref>* Scudder, 1869 : ''Notes on Orthoptera collected by Professor James Orton on either side of the Andes of Equatorial South America.'' Proceedings of the Boston Society of Natural History, vol. 12, {{p.|330-356}}</ref> | synonyms = * ''Eutropidacris'' (Hebard, 1923)<ref>Hebard. 1923. Trans. Amer. Entomol. Soc. 49:252</ref> }}
'''''Tropidacris''''' is a Neotropical genus of grasshopper in the family Romaleidae.<ref name=speciesfile>[http://orthoptera.speciesfile.org/Common/basic/Taxa.aspx?TaxonNameID=1116266 Orthoptera Species File]</ref><ref>[http://www.catalogueoflife.org/col/search/all/key/Tropidacris/match/1 Catalogue of life]</ref><ref name=Carbonell1986>{{cite journal| last=Carbonell | first=C.S. | year=1986 | title=Revision of the Neotropical Genus Tropidacris (Orthoptera, Acridoidea, Romaleidae, Romaleinae) | journal=Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia | volume=138 | issue=2 | pages=366–402 }}</ref> They are among the largest grasshoppers in the world by length and wingspan, reaching up to {{cvt|14.5|cm}} and {{cvt|24|cm}} respectively.<ref name=DinezFilho2010>{{cite journal| last=Dinez-Filho | first=J.A.F. | display-authors=etal | year=2010 | title=Ensemble forecasting shifts in climatically suitable areas for Tropidacris cristata (Orthoptera: Acridoidea: Romaleidae) | journal=Insect Conservation and Diversity | volume=3 | issue=3 | pages=213–221 | doi=10.1111/j.1752-4598.2010.00090.x | s2cid=54538413 }}</ref><ref name=Carbonell1986/> They are variably colored in green, brown, black, reddish or yellowish, and have wings that usually are conspicuously blue (''T. collaris'' and ''T. descampsi'') or red (''T. cristatus'') in flight.<ref name=Carbonell1986/><ref name=PaulaRomao2017>{{citation| last=Paula Romão | first=E.d. | year=2017 | title=Distribuição geográfica e potencial das espécies do gênero Tropidacris Scudder, 1869 (Orthoptera: Romaleidae) | publisher=Pará State University }}</ref> The gregarious and flightless nymphs have bright aposematic colors and are presumed to be toxic;<ref name=Whitman2008>{{cite journal| last1=Whitman | first1=D. | last2=Vincent | first2=S. | year=2008 | title=Large size as an antipredator defense in an insect | journal=Journal of Orthoptera Research | volume=17 | issue=2 | pages=353–371 | doi=10.1665/1082-6467-17.2.353 | doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name=Despland2020>{{cite journal| last1=Despland | first1=E. | last2=Srygley | first2=R.B. | year=2020 | title=Ontogenetic shift from aposematism and gregariousness to crypsis in a Romaleid grasshopper | journal=PLOS ONE | volume=15 | issue=8 | article-number=e0237594 | doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0237594 | pmid=32817631 | pmc=7444530 | bibcode=2020PLoSO..1537594D | doi-access=free }}</ref> a researcher who tasted one noted that it was very bitter, similar to a monarch butterfly.<ref name=Starr1998>{{cite journal| last=Starr | first=C.K. | year=1998 | title=Field observations of Tropidacris collaris (Orthoptera: Romaleidae) | journal=Living World | volume=1997-1998 | pages=46–47 }}</ref>
These locally abundant grasshoppers inhabit a wide range of habitats, from rainforests to dry open areas and lowlands to highlands.<ref name=PaulaRomao2017/><ref name=FrancaRocha2015>{{cite journal| last=França Rocha | first=M.d. | display-authors=etal | year=2015 | title=Spreading of heterochromatin and karyotype differentiation in two Tropidacris Scudder, 1869 species (Orthoptera, Romaleidae) | journal=Comp. Cytogenet. | volume=9 | issue=3 | pages=435–450 | doi=10.3897/CompCytogen.v9i3.5160 | pmid=26312132 | pmc=4547036 | doi-access=free }}</ref> Both adults and nymphs feed on many types of plants and decaying matter, and (especially ''A. collaris'') are sometimes regarded as pests because of the considerable damage they may cause to agricultural crops, tree plantations and ornamental plants.<ref name=PaulaRomao2017/><ref name=FrancaRocha2015/>
==Taxonomy== ''Tropidacris'' and the closely related ''Titanacris'' form the tribe Tropidacrini, but the latter genus, which generally is restricted to forest canopies of South and Central America, is not as well known.<ref name=Descamps1985>{{cite journal| last1=Descamps | first1=M. | last2=Carbonell | first2=C.S. | year=1985 | title=Revision of the Neotropical Arboreal Genus Titanacris (Orthoptera, Acridoidea, Romaleidae). | journal=Annales de la Société entomologique de France | volume=21 | issue=3 | pages=259–285 | doi=10.1080/21686351.1985.12278760 | s2cid=80821515 }}</ref> Unlike ''Tropidacris'', adult ''Titanacris'' are always mostly green (only some ''Tropidacris'' are mostly green) and have colorful wings that lack dark rear edge and spotting.<ref name=Descamps1985/>
There are three recognized species in the genus ''Tropidacris'':<ref name=speciesfile/>
*''Tropidacris collaris'' <small>(Stoll, 1813)</small> – blue-winged grasshopper or violet-winged grasshopper *''Tropidacris cristata'' <small>(Linnaeus, 1758)</small> – giant red-winged grasshopper *''Tropidacris descampsi'' <small>Carbonell, 1986</small>
Several additional species have been described, but these are now regarded as synonyms of the widespread and well-known ''T. collaris'' or ''T. cristata''.<ref name=Carbonell1986/> ''T. descampsi'' is poorly known with only a few confirmed specimens from the Colombian Amazon and western Brazilian Amazon.<ref name=Carbonell1986/><ref name=PaulaRomao2017/>
<gallery widths="180" heights="180"> File:Tropidacris collaris MHNTdos vol.jpg|''Tropidacris collaris'' File:Tropidacris cristata cristata MHNT vol.jpg|''Tropidacris cristata'' </gallery>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{Taxonbar|from=Q10704979}}
Category:Caelifera genera Category:Romaleidae Category:Taxa named by Samuel Hubbard Scudder