-Animals (Kingdom Animalia)

-Arthropods (Phylum Arthropoda)

-Hexapods (Subphylum Hexapoda)

-Insects (Class Insecta)

-Winged and Once-winged Insects (Subclass Pterygota)

-Grasshoppers, Crickets, and Katydids (Order Orthoptera)

-Grasshoppers, Locusts, and Allies (Suborder Caelifera)

-Grasshoppers (Infraorder Acrididea)

-Short-horned Grasshoppers and Locusts (Superfamily Acridoidea)

-Short-horned Grasshoppers (Family Acrididae)

-​Stridulating Slantface Grasshoppers (Subfamily Gomphocerinae)

-Tribe Melanotettigini

-Genus Melanotettix

-Melanotettix dibelonius

This species has the characteristic strongly slanted face of gomphocerine grasshoppers, giving the head a sharp, wedge-like profile. The body is elongate and narrow, with coloration typically ranging from gray-brown to dark brown, sometimes with faint longitudinal striping along the pronotum and abdomen. As the genus name suggests (Melanotettix = “dark grasshopper”), individuals often appear darker and more somber than many other slant-faced grasshoppers, which helps them blend into dry grasses and soil. Alert and quick to respond, M. dibelonius typically escapes by a short jump followed by direct flight. Males are presumed to use soft stridulatory songs for courtship, as is typical of slant-faced grasshoppers, though these sounds are subtle and rarely noticed by casual observers.