Southern Austroicetes
S1, profile
Ellura
Southern Austroicetes
S1, Red Leg
 
                      
Southern Austroicetes (Austroicetes frater)Class: Animals (Animalia) - Jointed Legs (Arthropoda) - Insects (Insecta)
Order: Crickets, Grasshoppers & Katydids (Orthoptera)
Family: Short-horned Grasshopper (Caelifera: Acrididae)     iNaturalist Observation
Species: Southern Austroicetes (Austroicetes frater)
This Photo:     S4, male, profile

Thank you Robert Read & Dr Michael Kearney for confirming the id of this species for us

General Species Information:
Found on Ellura (in the Murray Mallee, SA), the Adelaide Hills and elsewhere
Their red legs, eyes protruding above the head slightly & the profile shape of the pronotum are distinctive for this species.
As you can see, their colour is quite variable.
The last one had a missing leg, which shows the body well. This is a regular occurance with grasshoppers.
This highlights how we flip images so the head is to the left to help compare different species.
Robert Read indicated on iNaturalist that all Austroicetes sp have a type of cross or 'X' mark on the pronotum. If this is missing, it's indicates the specimen is not Austroicetes.
Michael said "Apparently this species is always found under trees"

Copyright © 2020-2024 Brett & Marie Smith. All Rights Reserved. Photographed 22-Jan-2020
This species is an Australian Native Species, not listed in the SA Murray Mallee Survey of 2010.