Electronic Key for Common Adult Grasshoppers of the Western United States
(Lucid^TM Key)
 

Created by the Decision Support and Pest Management Systems Laboratory of the USDA-APHIS Center for Plant Health Science and Technology

Even commonly encountered grasshoppers can be difficult to identify using traditional dichotomous keys. The electronic key for Common Adult Rangeland Grasshoppers of the Western United States is a powerful yet simple interactive identification and information system that operates under the Lucid^TM system. It will allow you to identify and find information for 58 of the most common adult grasshoppers of the Western U.S. which pose the greatest environmental and economic threat. Nymphs were not included in this key, but will be addressed in a future version. This key has been designed for people with varying degrees of knowledge identifying rangeland grasshoppers.

The key contains a list of grasshoppers, their characters and associated character states.  An identification proceeds as simply as this - by choosing more and more features (from the list in Characters Available) that describes your specimen. The player automatically removes grasshoppers from that list that do not match the combination of character states selected. This process of selecting character states continues until the grasshopper (taxa) list is reduced to a short list of possibilities, and in most cases, down to a single grasshopper. Character states are illustrated with images that help you understand the character and its states.

How to Receive a Copy of the Electronic Key and Lucid Player Standard Software:

There are two ways to get the electronic key and free Lucid Player software.

 

1. Request a copy of the FREE Grasshopper CD-ROM that contains the Electronic Key and Lucid Player Standard software.  The version of Lucid Player Standard software on the Grasshopper CD will only run on Windows based systems.
 

2. Visit the Lucid Central website to download a copy of the player software in either Lucid2 or Lucid3 format and view the keys over the Internet.

The Lucid3 system is a multiplatform web-based version of the Electronic Key for Common Adult Grasshoppers written in Java.

Check the Grasshopper Key webpage at the Lucid Central website periodically for updates to the grasshopper key or Lucid Player software.