A scientist at Mississippi State University has made an exciting discovery — 16 new species of grasshoppers found in the thorny shrub habitats of deserts in the U.S. and Mexico.
Before JoVonn Hill’s research, only three species of Agroecotettix were known. Hill, who leads the Mississippi Entomological Museum at MSU, emphasized the importance of thoroughly exploring our environment.
“It is essential to continue investigating our biodiversity, particularly for conservation reasons, before it disappears,” Hill remarked.
The newly identified species, which are indigenous to the southern U.S. and Mexican deserts, highlight the rich biodiversity present in dry ecosystems. Hill’s paper titled “Desert Diversification: Revision of Agroecotettix Bruner, 1908 (Orthoptera, Acrididae, Melanoplinae) with Descriptions of Sixteen New Species from the United States and Mexico,” was published in the journal ZooKeys, offering important information about the evolutionary history and ecology of the area.
According to Hill, an assistant professor at MSU’s Mississippi Agricultural and Forestry Experiment Station, this group of grasshoppers likely evolved during the Pleistocene Epoch, commonly referred to as the Ice Age. He observed that in the Rocky Mountains, species from this subfamily in high-altitude grasslands likely became separated as glaciers retreated and habitats moved to higher elevations. He believes the desert species his team found went through a comparable process of separation and species formation.
“These grasshoppers reside in lowland thorny scrub environments. At some point, they, too, became isolated and formed new species, as each one is linked to a specific mountain range,” he explained. “Their reproductive preferences and absence of premating rituals have helped keep their populations stable and connected to particular mountain ranges.”
To validate these findings, DNA from the specimens collected will be analyzed by partners at the University of Michigan. By applying a molecular clock, Hill’s team aims to ascertain when these species diverged, thus shedding light on how historical climate changes affected their distributions and how future climate patterns may influence them.
Understanding how climate change has impacted these species historically can also equip us to tackle future challenges, according to Hill. It serves as a reminder that there is still an abundance of discoveries waiting to be made right in our own surroundings.
This research, supported by the National Science Foundation, is part of two additional projects. In one of them, Hill and his advisor Daniel Otte, a senior curator at the Academy of Natural Sciences, are collaborating on “The North American Grasshoppers, Volume III.”
“These grasshoppers belong to the Melanoplinae subfamily, the most diverse group of North American grasshoppers, which includes many of the significant grasshopper pest species. There are numerous new species yet to be documented, and we aim to describe them all before publishing the book,” he shared.
The other project, in collaboration with Lacey Knowles at the University of Michigan, investigates the reasons behind the diversity of Melanoplinae across North America and Mexico by examining over 600 species.
“This study intends to clarify what led to this diversity, when it took place, and how different populations may have gradually become isolated,” Hill stated.
“I loved catching grasshoppers as a child, and I still get to do that now — discovering new species, unraveling their histories and understanding their relationships,” said the MSU researcher. “Sharing this intriguing aspect of American natural heritage makes all the effort worthwhile.”
Key collaborators include Vilas Brown, Brady Dunaway, Ray Fisher, Mallory Grady, Alexandra Hendon, Jennifer Seltzer, Jacqueline Seltzer-Hill, Rowan Seltzer-Hill, and Matthew Thorn. Funding support comes from the NSF, Texas Ecolab, the National Institute of Food and Agriculture, and MAFES.
