Sigaus collinus | |
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Sigaus collinus, New Zealand | |
Scientific classification ![]() | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Arthropoda |
Class: | Insecta |
Order: | Orthoptera |
Suborder: | Caelifera |
Family: | Acrididae |
Tribe: | Catantopini |
Genus: | Sigaus |
Species: | S. collinus |
Binomial name | |
Sigaus collinus (Hutton, 1898) | |
The Green Rock-hopper grasshopper, Sigaus collinus is an alpine species of short-horned grasshopper in the family Acrididae. [1] It is found in New Zealand in the mountains of northern South Island, above the tree line and as high as 2000 m asl. [2] [3] [4] [5] In New Zealand alpine grasshoppers can freeze solid at any time of the year and are alive when they thaw out when temperatures rise. [6]
Sigaus collinus is flightless and adults are relative large (females 32 mm), [2] and common amongst scree and tussock. [7] Although widespread in 2020, about 97% of the habitat of the green rock-hopper grasshopper will be lost due to global warming by 2070. [8] The species is variable in colour; most individuals are green with yellow markings, but some are olive-grey. In the Kaikōura Ranges (Mt Luxford) S. collinus hybridises with S. nivalis, [9] but elsewhere the two species are well differentiated. [5]
An endemic species of mite (Erythrites jacksoni) is an ectoparasite of this grasshopper. [10]