Gumleaf Grasshopper, Goniaea australasiae

Plate 140. The Cinnamon Keel-backed Locust, Tropinotus australis (now known as the Goniaea australiasiae) found in Scrub or Dwarf Bushes around Melbourne

The Tropidonoti, or keel-backed Locusts, differ from ordinary Locusts in the great compression of the midline of the thorax into a hight-arched prominent keel, extending over the head on front and over the base of the abdomen behind, from which the genus derives its name.

The size of individuals of this species varies considerably, but the males are little less than the females...Some specimens are lighter than others in color.

Although not uncommon, it does not occur in the proportion of one to a hundred of the yellow-winged Locusts, Oedipoda musica, and like the Opsomala, has no gregarious habits, one or two individuals being found in one spot on the ground amongst the scrub or dwarf bushes around Melbourne. The female, when depositing her eggs, forces the abdomen an inch into the ground, making up for want of long ovipositor of the Grasshoppers.