Zayante Band-winged Grasshopper

A shallow sea once covered California's Central Valley and when the Santa Cruz Mountains formed, sand from the ocean floor was uplifted and created the sandhills ecosystem. The Zayante sandhills habitat supports plants and animals that are found nowhere else. It is one of the rarest ecosystems of California, and one of the rarest of the United States. The Zayante sandhills ecosystem is not only home to the endangered Zayante band-winged grasshopper, but also to other unique species, many of which are on the endangered species list, including the Mount Hermon June beetle, Santa Cruz wallflower, Ben Lomond buckwheat, Bonny Doon Silver Leaf manzanita, Ben Lomond spineflower, and the Santa Cruz kangaroo rat.