The Bow-Winged Grasshopper (Chorthippus biguttulus) is a small insect.

The Bow-Winged Grasshopper varies in colour from green to black-brown to rose pink. The male often has a red tip on its abdomen. It has long, strong hind legs that enable it to jump long distances. It has short antennae.

It grows to about 2 centimetres (1 inch) long. Females are larger than males. 

The Bow-Winged Grasshopper is native to northern and central Europe, from Finland in the north to the Pyrenees mountains in the south. It prefers grasslands. 

It is a diurnal grasshopper, active during the day. It eats foliage, such as grass and leaves. 

The female Bow-Winged Grasshopper has an ovipositor, which is a tube used to lay eggs. The ovipositor is slightly arched upward. She lays eggs in loose soil, among plant roots or in rotting wood. She lays 10-60 eggs which hatch after about nine months. 

Photographer: Martina Nicolls

Martina Nicolls: SIMILAR BUT DIFFERENT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM