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Using Lucid Keys to Identify Grasshoppers
Mobile Apps for Your Android or iPhone
The Grasshoppers of the Western U.S. Lucid mobile app offers keys to identify both adult and pre-adult stages of many of the most commonly encountered grasshoppers in the western U.S. The adult key facilitates the identification of 76 species of adult grasshoppers. All species included are in the family Acrididae with the exception of one, Brachystola magna, which is in the family Romaleidae. See the keys page if you need help determining whether your specimen is an adult or a nymph. The Lucid mobile keys were created by USDA-APHIS-ITP through collaboration with the USDA-APHIS-PPQ-S&T CPHST Phoenix Lab, USDA-APHIS-PPQ Colorado SPHD Office, University of Nebraska at Lincoln, Chadron State College, and Identic Pty Ltd (Lucid).
The keys are designed for people with varying degrees of knowledge identifying rangeland grasshoppers, from the general enthusiast to research scientist. The keys work by a process of elimination using features from those described and illustrated in the various species fact sheets included in the app. Features are selected based on a visual examination of the grasshopper to be identified. The species fact sheets include photos and drawings by Dr. Robert Pfadt from the University of Wyoming with additional photos by Mathew L. Brust from Chadron State College.
Key authors: Mathew Brust, Jim Thurman, Chris Reuter, Lonnie Black, Robert Quartarone, and Amanda Redford.
This Lucid mobile app is part of a complete identification tool released in 2014: Brust, Mathew, Jim Thurman, Chris Reuter, Lonnie Black, Robert Quartarone, and Amanda Redford. Grasshoppers of the Western U.S., Edition 4. USDA-APHIS-ITP. Fort Collins, Colorado. (That desktop computer link is also below.)
App Links
Links to get the smart phone apps or an online program for your desktop, laptop or tablet computer:
Mobile apps last updated on February 2016.
Screenshots from the Android app:
Screenshot from the desktop Lucid program showing the feature selections available alongside common rangeland grasshopper species included in the key. As various features are selected, species not meeting those criteria are discarded from the list until ideally only one species remains.
