The Toxic Milkweed Grasshopper (Pyrgomorphidae) is an African grasshopper in the order Orthoptera.

Orthoptera insects include grasshoppers, crickets, and locusts. They have a cylindrical body with long back legs for jumping.

Adult Toxic Milkweek Grasshoppers are generally green, but juvenile grasshoppers, called nymphs, can be black. Other species may have different coloured nymphs.

Nymphs moult (shed their skin), sometimes several times taking a few weeks to a few months, until they became adults. They change colour during the maturation process.

Nymph of the Toxic Milkweed Grasshopper

The photographed Toxic Milkweed Grasshoppers are from the highlands of Kenya.

Pyrgomorphidae means tower-shaped. Orthoptera means straight wing. There are about 29 genera and about 70 species and subspecies.

Nymphs of the Toxic Milkweed Grasshopper

Photographer: Martina Nicolls

Martina Nicolls: SIMILAR BUT DIFFERENT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM