A species of grasshopper native to Appalachia, believed to be extinct, was spotted last year in Augusta County. It’s among several rare and never before seen plants and animals that were discovered in Virginia recently.
Roxy: Andrew Rapp spent hours one summer day, his back crouched as he walked near a blueberry thicket. Net in hand, he was hoping to get a glimpse of a grasshopper, called Appalachia hebardi, more commonly called Appalachian grasshopper.
“I was looking for it,” Rapp said, describing a gravel pile where he finally saw the insect he had been searching for. “I locked eyes with it. And I was like, ‘Oh! I think that’s probably it!’”
This was the first such sighing of this species in Virginia in nearly 80 years. The Appalachian grasshopper normally lives in forests that are in the early stage of succession, where there are shrubs and tall grasses. It’s a non-flying grasshopper, about an inch to an inch-and-a-half long, and it’s only known to have lived in three states. Citizen scientists have spotted it in Pennsylvania and West Virginia in recent years, so Rapp had a hunch it was still around, well camouflaged by its olive and brown coloring. Loss of habitat may have driven down the insect’s numbers, and it could also be threatened by insecticides used to control invasive spongy moss caterpillars.
Other scientists with the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation made discoveries last year across central and Southwest Virginia. One found a new cave beetle, another catalogued some of the last remaining habitats of the endangered Mitchell’s satyr butterfly.
Rapp said anyone can discover things they never knew existed, right in their own backyards.
“It opens up a totally new world when you start looking closer on your typical walks. Looking at the bugs that are running across a trail,” Rapp said.
Even in the winter, there are some animals stirring, including centipedes, which Rapp says are most active in the winter.
“Even though there’s a lot less activity, there are some things that survive, somehow, and can be seen on some of these warmer days in the winter,” Rapp said.
The Appalachian Grasshopper isn’t listed by the federal or state government as rare or endangered. Rapp says he’s hoping more awareness could help protect the few remaining of this species, now that it’s known they still exist.
This report, provided by Virginia Public Radio, was made possible with support from the Virginia Education Association.
