Background and Description
The Zayante band-winged grasshopper (Trimerotropis infantilis) is in the Order Orthoptera and Family Acrididae. It is known to be located only in Santa Cruz County, California within the Zayante sandhills, chiefly within a Maritime Coast Range Ponderosa Pine forest. The area has little vegetation and is primarily made up of sand and soil sediments. Since this habitat has been disrupted by humans, the Zayante band-winged grasshopper was listed as endangered in 1997. Conservation groups are currently trying to protect the areas where the Zayante band-winged grasshopper can be found (C. R. Glenn. 2006).
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. (Donald J. Barry. 2000). 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 (Donald J. Barry 2000). 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. (Donald J. Barry. 2000).
Read more about this topic: Zayante Band-winged Grasshopper
Famous quotes containing the words background and, background and/or description:
“I had many problems in my conduct of the office being contrasted with President Kennedy’s conduct in the office, with my manner of dealing with things and his manner, with my accent and his accent, with my background and his background. He was a great public hero, and anything I did that someone didn’t approve of, they would always feel that President Kennedy wouldn’t have done that.”
—Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908–1973)
“They were more than hostile. In the first place, I was a south Georgian and I was looked upon as a fiscal conservative, and the Atlanta newspapers quite erroneously, because they didn’t know anything about me or my background here in Plains, decided that I was also a racial conservative.”
—Jimmy Carter (James Earl Carter, Jr.)
“To give an accurate description of what has never occurred is not merely the proper occupation of the historian, but the inalienable privilege of any man of parts and culture.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)