Grasshoppers of Maine: From the Everyday to the Extraordinary by Brandon Woo

Grasshoppers of Maine: From the Everyday to the Extraordinary webinar by Brandon Woo which was hosted on Thursday, February 10th, 2022.

Everyone is familiar with grasshoppers, but you might not realize how fascinating they can be. Maine has some 35 species of grasshoppers, and while some are exceedingly common, others require a lot of effort to find. You might need to hike up to a remote mountaintop or visit a sand dune! In this presentation I will cover some basic grasshopper biology and taxonomy, and then take a look at all of the species you're likely to see in Maine.

Brandon Woo

joined MES when he was quite young, and has developed a strong fascination in insect taxonomy and natural history due in large part to the MES field days and bioblitzes. While in high school he worked on a project involving the grasshoppers of Mozambique, where he further honed his interests in the insect order Orthoptera. He earned a B.S. from Cornell University in 2020 and is currently pursuing a PhD at Texas A&M University, focusing on pygmy mole cricket systematics. He contributes actively to citizen/community science websites such as BugGuide and iNaturalist - if you've posted a photo of a grasshopper to either of those websites, it's likely that he has seen your photo! Although his main focus is on grasshoppers and crickets, he considers himself an all-around naturalist and is interested in any and all taxonomic groups, from birds to plants.