Tridactylus australicus

2 Pygmy Grasshopper at Uriarra Recreation Reserve

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Identification history

Xya muta	22 Jun 2024	RogerF
Tridactylus australicus	15 Jun 2024	RogerF
Tridactylus australicus	15 Jun 2024	KorinneM

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User's notes

It was small, but I'm lousy with judging size, so take that into account. The other genus that iNaturalist suggested was Xya. This was on the edge of the stream that headed downhill to the river.

4 comments

RogerF wrote:

15 Jun 2024

These little chaps are mostly overloooked. They live inside mud tunnels on the edge of dams etc and splashing water on them drives them out. Good swimmers. Feed on algae.

KorinneM wrote:

15 Jun 2024

Thanks for the info @RogerF.

RogerF wrote:

15 Jun 2024

Although we have so few sightings of them on CNM, they are quite common. Its their tunnels that give them away. They are great dispersers by flight and in one year I had them living in a wet trench in my vegetable patch (see picture in my book taken by my colleague Pierre).

KorinneM wrote:

22 Jun 2024

@RogerF - for your reference, there's two people arguing over on iNaturalist that this should be in Xya. My observation of this on iNat: https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/observations/222802442

People who are arguing about it:

brandonwoo bio: PhD candidate in the Song Lab at Texas A&M University. I received my B.S. from Cornell in May 2020. Interested in all aspects of natural history since 2004, but my main focus is the systematics and natural history of Orthoptera (grasshoppers, crickets, and katydids).

Prior to 2020 I posted the majority of my U.S. arthropods to BugGuide (I'm user 'metrioptera' over there). These days my activity on that site is more focused on identifying Orthopterans and submitting high quality images of poorly represented species to enhance the guide. Basically all of my other nature photos are posted here on iNat, including plants, herps, etc.

BugGuide: https://bugguide.net/user/view/42238
eBird: https://ebird.org/profile/MTUzMDM2Nw/world

Useful iNat links:
my comments: https://www.inaturalist.org/comments?mine=true
list of my observed species: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/taxa?user_id=brandonwoo
Taxa unobserved by me: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?acc_below=50&geoprivacy=open&place_id=any&subview=map&taxon_geoprivacy=open&unobserved_by_user_id=brandonwoo
Least-observed taxa: https://elias.pschernig.com/wildflower/leastobserved.html?user=brandonwoo
Maverick IDs: https://www.inaturalist.org/identifications?user_id=brandonwoo&category=maverick

rafapsilva bio: Rafael Silva

Biological Sciences at the Universidade Federal de Viçosa. I am very interested on the diversity of Orthoptera, Caelifera. Tridactyloidea.
I also like Myriapoda.

Highlights:
My rarer observed species on iNaturalist:
https://elias.pschernig.com/wildflower/leastobserved.html?user=rafapsilva

My Heat Map: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/map?user_id=2497522/0/0#4/-17.681/-42.34

Reseach Grade Observations: >https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=any&quality_grade=research&user_id=rafapsilva&verifiable=any

My Observations that Needs ID: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=any&quality_grade=needs_id&user_id=rafapsilva&verifiable=any
My 2022's Review: https://www.inaturalist.org/stats/2022/rafapsilva

My Projects:

Miriapodes do Brasil:
https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/miriapodes-do-brasil

Biodiversidade de Rio Paranaíba (MG): https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/biodiversidade-de-rio-paranaiba

Biodiversidade de Pirapora (MG): https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/biodiversidade-de-pirapora

What they have said is the following:

Brandon Woo: Looks more like Xya to me

rafapsilva: @brandonwoo I agree. Couldbe Xya muta @korinnem do you have genitalia extraction photos to confirm the ID so the image can be used for the taxa?

For reference there is also this post where Matthew Connors has argued that it is Xya. https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/observations/51458222

(Info on Matthew Connors: Currently fumbling my way through sorting all of the Australian Phaneropterinae, and then trying to work out which of them actually have names! See this post for a general outline of the process and what exactly is happening.

Entomologist and taxonomist specialising in Australian orthopteroids, particularly mantises (Mantodea) and katydids (Tettigoniidae), but with a keen interest in all orthopteroid insects and of course all organisms! I used to post my own sightings on Bowerbird but now that the site has been shut down I've transferred them all over to iNat. I'm also woefully behind on sorting through all my photos, so most of my sightings will be a number of years old by the time I get to them! Follow me on Facebook for nature photography and entomological musings.

Currently working in Cairns as the Chief Ant Identifier™ at JCU's Insect Ecology Lab, working with the yellow crazy ant eradication program. My own personal research projects at the moment are many and varied, and involve the Fulciniinae, Phaneropterinae, and Argiope (among other things). I also get dragged into other people's various projects on tetrigids, matchstick grasshoppers, huntsmen, ants, and who knows what else. Check out some of my publications here.

I used to do a lot more IDs back in the days when I had more time, and although progress has definitely slowed, I'm still gradually making my way through the archives. My ultimate aim is to provide identifications for every Australian Orthopteroid observation (which will undoubtedly take me a very long time!). For now the short-term goals are to catch up on the Australian Mantodea sightings that I missed, to re-review all of the Australian Tettigoniidae sightings, and to sort all of the Australian Orthoptera sightings at least to family.

For now, I'm happy to help out where I can but lack of time restrains what I can help with. I get a lot of tags, so if you tag me in a sighting I probably won't have time to give an in-depth ID, but I'll try to offer some thoughts and hopefully some sort of ID that I'm comfortable with. If you've tagged me and I haven't replied, I may have missed it so please feel free to reach out again.

I really enjoy trying to identify my own observations, but these days it unfortunately just takes too much time. There's a more detailed explanation of my current plan here, but the short of it is that for now I am mostly going to stick to detailed identifications of orthopteroids. Previous detailed ID comments are all gathered here, some of which are much more in-depth than others (I'm looking at you, barnacles).)

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