Changing Common Name for Blue-winged Grasshopper

Several species on iNat fall under the name "Blue-winged Grasshopper" and looking over these species, it is easy to see that some people don't realize that or don't know the difference from one species over the other. Here's a list of the four species falling under this name in the order that iNat shows them if you typed in "Blue-winged Grasshopper".

Blue-winged Grasshopper (Oedipoda caerulescens)
Blue-winged Grasshopper (Trimerotropis cyaneipennis)
Saussure's Blue-winged Grasshopper (Leprus intermedius)
Wheeler's Blue-winged Grasshopper (Leprus wheelerii)

Now to add a few rough distribution descriptions for each one. O. caerulescens is found throughout Eurasia. T. cyaneipennis lives throughout western US. L. intermedius lives in southwestern US. L. wheelerii lives in south-central US.

Well today, I corrected (as best as I could) 10 observations in North America all sighted within the last month, labeled as O. caerulescens, the European species. And I can see how that can lead to problems. When we have a site with a majority of users being America, I can see how one will just click O. caerulescens if they typed in the search "Blue-winged Grasshopper" for their sighting. Not only that, I've noticed that the auto-id on the mobile app also lists O. caerulescens if such an individual occurred.

I think it would be wise if we change the common names of both O. caerulescens and T. cyaneipennis to help eliminate confusion with ids. My suggestion is just add geographical additions to the name, example being the Eurasian Blue-winged Grasshopper and the American Blue-winged Grasshopper. It wouldn't be the first time people have done this for example; Eurasian and American Kestrel, Eurasian and American Coot or Eurasian and American Moorhen. Sure those examples refer to more closely related taxon but I think the point still stands. But from what I see observers doing, I think this would be a smart idea.

Posted on 07 August, 2019 18:11 by birdwhisperer birdwhisperer

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