| Zayante band-winged grasshopper | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Domain: | Eukaryota |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Orthoptera |
| Suborder: | Caelifera |
| Family: | Acrididae |
| Genus: | Trimerotropis |
| Species: | T. infantilis |
| Binomial name | |
| Trimerotropis infantilis Rentz & Weissman, 1984 | |
The Zayante band-winged grasshopper (Trimerotropis infantilis) is a species of insect in the family Acrididae. It is endemic to a small portion of the Santa Cruz Mountains in California.
It is known to be located only in Santa Cruz County, California within the Zayante sandhills, an area with little vegetation, primarily made up of sand and soil sediments.
The male grasshoppers range from 13.7 to 17.2 millimeters in length, and females a little larger from 19.7 to 21.6 millimeters. [4] They have forewings that are tan to gray with darker bands, pale yellow hind wings, with one faint thin band that is visible when they are in flight; its eyes are also banded. Its lower legs (tibiae) are blue and gray. [4] They have good flying skills, being known to fly distances of three to seven feet. They produce a buzzing sound while flying in order to avoid predators. The Zyante band-winged grasshoppers are similar in appearance to many of the other species of grasshoppers; the only difference is that they are found specifically in a distinct range of habit in the sandhills. The grasshoppers have a flight season that lasts from late May to October, their peak activities being around July and August. [4]
A shallow sea once covered California's Central Valley and when the Santa Cruz Mountains formed, sand from the ocean floor was uplifted and created the sandhills ecosystem. The Zayante sandhills habitat supports plants and animals that are found nowhere else. It is one of the rarest ecosystems of California, and one of the rarest of the United States.
The Zayante sandhills ecosystem is not only home to the endangered Zayante band-winged grasshopper, but also to other unique species, many of which are on the endangered species list, including the Mount Hermon June beetle, Santa Cruz wallflower, Ben Lomond buckwheat, Bonny Doon Silver Leaf manzanita, Ben Lomond spineflower, and the Santa Cruz kangaroo rat. [4]
The Zayante band-winged grasshopper (Trimertropis infantilis) has been listed as an endangered species. [2] [3] The main threat to the species is habitat loss. The introduction of non-native plant species of plants has also impacted the grasshopper populations. Over-collection and pesticides have been identified as potential threats. [4]
The loss of habitat is caused by urban development, agriculture, and sand mining. A large percentage of the Zayante sandhills have already been altered by these activities. [3] Non-native species are taking over the sand hills, crowding out native species and degrading the grasshopper habitat. Two non-native species in particular, Portuguese broom and sea fig are significantly impacting the remaining ecosystem. [4]
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has designated critical habitats within the communities of Mount Hermon, Felton, Ben Lomond, Zayante, and Scotts Valley (10,560 acres or 4,270 hectares). [4] Two Habitat Conservation Plans have been implemented by the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service. [5]
Almost two thirds of the remaining habitat is unprotected and privately owned, [6] [ failed verification ] complicating efforts to protect the threatened species. As of 2008, Santa Cruz County, the City of Scotts Valley, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS), and various organizations and individuals are continuing efforts to preserve sandhill habitat.[ citation needed ]
Santa Cruz County, officially the County of Santa Cruz, is a county on the Pacific coast of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 270,861. The county seat is Santa Cruz. Santa Cruz County comprises the Santa Cruz–Watsonville, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the San Jose–San Francisco–Oakland, CA Combined Statistical Area. The county is on the California Central Coast, south of the San Francisco Bay Area region. The county forms the northern coast of the Monterey Bay, with Monterey County forming the southern coast.
The Sandhills, often written Sand Hills, is a region of mixed-grass prairie on grass-stabilized sand dunes in north-central Nebraska, covering just over one quarter of the state. The dunes were designated a National Natural Landmark in 1984.
The Sandhills or Carolina Sandhills is a 10-35 mi wide physiographic region within the U.S. Atlantic Coastal Plain province, along the updip (inland) margin of this province in the states of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. The extent of the Carolina Sandhills is shown in maps of the ecoregions of North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.
The Colorado River Delta is the region where the Colorado River flows into the Gulf of California in eastern Mexicali Municipality in the north of the state of Baja California in northwesternmost Mexico. The delta is part of a larger geologic region called the Salton Trough. Historically, the interaction of the river's flow and the ocean's tide created a dynamic environment, supporting freshwater, brackish, and saltwater species. Within the delta region, the river split into multiple braided channels and formed a complex estuary and terrestrial ecosystems. The use of water upstream and the accompanying reduction of freshwater flow has resulted in the loss of most of the wetlands of the area, as well as drastic changes to the aquatic ecosystems - an ecosystem collapse.
The Santa Cruz cypress is a species of North American tree within the cypress family. The species is endemic to the Santa Cruz Mountains within the Santa Cruz and San Mateo counties of west-central California. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service listed the species on the Endangered Species Act in 1987 due to increasing threats from habitat loss and disruption of natural forest fire regimes. In 2016, the conservation status of the Santa Cruz cypress changed to Threatened. The cited reasoning was a decrease in threats against their habitat.
Carbonera Creek is a 10.2-mile-long (16.4 km) watercourse in Santa Cruz County, California, that eventually flows to the San Lorenzo River.
The maritime coast range ponderosa pine forests, also known as ponderosa sand parklands and ponderosa pine sandhills, are a rare temperate forest community consisting of open stands of a disjunct population of ponderosa pine growing on sandy soils in the Santa Cruz Mountains of north central coastal California. Limited to approximately 200 acres (81 ha), the only two known occurrences of this type are near the towns of Ben Lomond and Bonny Doon in Santa Cruz County.
Apodemia mormo langei, the Lange's metalmark butterfly, is an endangered North American butterfly. It is a subspecies of the Mormon metalmark and belongs to the family Riodinidae. The butterfly is endemic to California, where it is known from one strip of riverbank in the San Francisco Bay Area. A 2008 count estimated the total remaining population at 131 individuals. Since 2011, this number has dropped to about 25–30.
Trimerotropis is a genus of band-winged grasshoppers in the family Acrididae. There are at least 50 described species in Trimerotropis.
Erysimum teretifolium is a species of Erysimum known by the common names Santa Cruz wallflower and Ben Lomond wallflower. It is a very rare plant endemic to Santa Cruz County, California, where it grows on inland sand spits, chaparral, and sandstone deposits in the southern Santa Cruz Mountains. It is a California state and federally listed endangered species.
The Loch Lomond Vernal Pool Ecological Reserve is a nature reserve of 8.22 acres (33,300 m2) in the community of Loch Lomond in Lake County, California. It is one of 119 ecological reserves managed by the California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG). The ecological reserve system was authorized by the state legislature in 1968 for the purpose of conservation and protection of rare plants, animals and habitats.
Chorizanthe pungens is a species of flowering plant in the buckwheat family known by the common name Monterey spineflower. It is endemic to California, where it is known from the San Francisco Bay Area south along the Central Coast.
Lessingia germanorum is a rare species of flowering plant in the family Asteraceae known by the common name San Francisco lessingia. It is endemic to California, where it is known from four populations in the Presidio of San Francisco and one occurrence on San Bruno Mountain south of San Francisco. It is a state and federally listed endangered species. The already rare plant is endangered by many processes, including invasive species, development, sand mining, off-road vehicles and bulldozers, habitat fragmentation, trampling, and pollution, as well as stochastic events.
The Bonny Doon Ecological Reserve is a nature preserve of 552 acres (2.23 km2) in the Santa Cruz Mountains of California, United States. The reserve protects several rare and endangered plant and animal species within an area known as the Santa Cruz Sandhills, an ancient seabed containing fossilized marine animals.
Thysanocarpus conchuliferus is a rare species of flowering plant in the mustard family known by the common name Santa Cruz Island fringepod. It is endemic to Santa Cruz Island, one of the Channel Islands of California, where has been recently observed at only one location; some years it is totally absent.
Dicerandra cornutissima is a rare species of flowering plant in the mint family known by the common names longspurred mint, longspurred balm, and Robin's mint. It is endemic to Florida in the United States. It is found in Marion County, and possibly Sumter County, but it may have been totally extirpated from the latter. There are 12 known occurrences remaining as of 2017, down from 15 in 2000. The plant was federally listed as an endangered species in 1985.
Polyphylla barbata is a rare species of beetle known by the common name Mount Hermon June beetle. It is endemic to California, where it occurs only in Santa Cruz County. There is only a single occurrence of the beetle on a stretch of territory of under 1,500 acres (6.1 km2). This is a federally listed endangered species of the United States.
Laguna Creek is a 8.5-mile-long (13.7 km) south by southwest-flowing stream originating on Ben Lomond Mountain in the Santa Cruz County, California, United States. It culminates in a lagoon before reaching the Pacific Ocean about six miles northwest of Santa Cruz, California.
Trimerotropis huroniana, known generally as the lake Huron locust or great lakes grasshopper, is a species of band-winged grasshopper in the family Acrididae. It is found in Wisconsin and Michigan in the United States, and Ontario in Canada.
