Average leaf consumption of the grasshopper species Stenacris f. fissicauda is determined. The results are expressed as grams of leaf biomass/gram dry weight grasshopper/ day. The material used in the experiments was collected on Ilha de Marchantaria (island of "várzea ' - Rio Solimões) near Manaus. The animals were grouped accoding to nymph stage (initial (l+ll), middle (III+IV), final (V+VI)), and sex (males, females, males+females). The plant used as food was Paspalum repens, an aquatic macrophytc of the Poaceae on which Stenacris f. fissicauda develops its life cycle. The initial stage nymphs consumed the most (0.7740 g/g of animal bio-mass/day), while the smallest consume of leaf biomass was done by adults (0.2622 g/g of animal biomass/day). The calculated average consumption was about 0.5 g (dry weight) of leaf biomass consumed per gram (dry weight) of animal biomass/day. Data are compared with leaf consumption of Cornops aquatietun (Acrididae) on Eichiiornia crassipes (Pontederiaceae) from the same area.
Orthoptera; Acrididae; Food Consumed; Aquatic Macrophytes; "Várzea"