Vibrant creature found on road on outskirts of island rainforest is new species
On a small volcanic island off the northwest coast of Equatorial Guinea, researchers scoured the landscape for days in search of a brightly colored creature found nowhere else in the world.
Along a road that cuts through Bioko Island’s dense rainforest, they found what they were looking for — Pterotiltus bioko, a new species of flightless grasshopper, according to a study published June 23 in the Journal of Orthoptera Research.
Researchers described the new species as small, and one of the smallest in its genus, measuring just over half an inch long, on average.
Males have a predominantly black body with wide yellow patches and orange-green leg and abdominal segments. Females have a mostly green body with red or yellow stripes below the eyes, according to the study.
Like other Pterotiltus species, the Bioko grasshopper lives in the “herb layer” of rainforests, researchers said. The herb layer, just above the forest floor, is made up of plants, grasses and flowers.
The species was found in Bioko Island’s Reserva Cientifica de la Caldera de Luba and Pico Basile National Park.
Bioko Island is part of Equatorial Guinea.
The research team was comprised of Charly Oumarou-Ngoute, Hojun Song, Ricardo Mariño-Pérez, Brandon M. Woo, Jackson Linde and C.H.F. Rowell.
