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Short-winged Rice Grasshopper
Pseudoxya diminuta
15.4562, 119.92
Field Notes
Description:
Acrididae; Oxyinae; Oxyini; Pseudoxya diminuta Walker, 1871. Two days ago (Dec 6, 2022) I posted a spotting of an Orb-weaver Spider on its web, attacking its prey which I could see was a grasshopper - https://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/692131707. However, I could not identify the grasshopper because of the silk strands which the spider had wrapped around it. I was also unable to identify the spider which was always partly hidden behind its prey. I returned to the scene of the spotting this morning and the spider was still there and I was able to I.D. it properly - https://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/562465455, but, of course, the grasshopper had been consumed by the spider and I had to devise an alternative way of arriving at an accurate identification. I had the original pictures of the species interaction between the spider and the grasshopper and I could see the exposed parts of the grasshopper which were not covered in silk strands. So, my plan was to search an area within approximately a 10 ft. radius of the spider's web and take pictures of all the grasshoppers that I could find. Then all I would have to do would be to compare each of them with what could be seen in my original photos of the interaction spotting. I was expecting to see a variety of grasshoppers (which I did) and then the task would probably become impossible, but I would have the satisfaction of having tried. It turned out that I was lucky, this morning. There was indeed a variety of grasshoppers, but most of them were tiny juvenile Tettigoniidae which were far too small to match the prey in my photos. There were, however, some Acrididae which appeared to be of the right size and, more importantly, they were all of the same species, Pseudoxya diminuta. I took a few photos of one which was in a nice position (the one shown here) and set ofF home to to carry out some comparisons. I was happy to see that all the features which could be seen, on the exposed parts of the prey grasshopper, matched very well their counterparts on the photos I had taken this morning. Case closed.
Habitat:
This Pseudoxya diminuta was spotted in the rice mill backyard on foliage in an area of uncultivated and unused land.
Notes:
To get complete information on this species interaction and how the species involved were identified, this spotting should be linked with https://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/692131707 and https://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/562465455
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