Migratory Locust – a Short-Horned Grasshopper

The Migratory Locust (Locusta migratoria) is an insect in the Acrididae family of Short-Horned Grasshoppers.

The Migratory Locust varies in colour from black to brownish to yellowish and green, depending on the colour of the vegetation. Generally, it has a blackish-brown back and light-brown belly and face. It has short antennae. It has long wings and long legs.

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Slender Green-Winged Grasshopper

The Slender Green-Winged Grasshopper (Aiolopus thalassinus thalassinus) is an invertebrate insect in the Acrididae family of grasshoppers.

The Slender Green-Winged Grasshopper can be brown to dark-brown with lime to grass green on its head and thighs. It is paler on its underbelly. It has large eyes, medium-sized antennae, and an elongated body. Its legs have three segments, ending with small claw-like appendages. Its back legs are enlarged, which enable it to jump long distances. The male has a pair of wings and can fly, wheres the female has basic wings and cannot fly well. The wings are green.

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What are the similarities and differences between a Grasshopper and a Locust?

What are the similarities and differences between a Grasshopper and a Locust?

The Grasshopper and the Locust are both insects in the Acrididae family of grasshoppers, groundhoppers, and locusts. They are acridids. 

The Grasshopper has no sub-family, whereas the Locust has three sub-families – 1) Spur-Throated Grasshopper, 2) Band-Winged Grasshopper, and 3) Slant-Faced Grasshopper.

The Grasshopper does not always become a Locust, whereas the Locust is a Grasshopper. 

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How far can a Grasshopper hop?

How far can a Grasshopper hop? 

A Grasshopper is a plant-eating insect in the Orthoptera order and is common across the globe. It is terrestrial (a ground-dweller) with powerful back legs and wings.

It jumps without using its wings. It extends its large, powerful hind (back) legs and pushes against the ground to lift off. The force of the push propels it into the air. 

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Stick Grasshopper

The Stick Grasshopper (Paraproscopia riedei) is an insect in the Proscopiidae family. It is also known as the Locust Phasmid, the Horsehead Grasshopper, and the Jumping Stick. It is not a stick insect phasmid – it is a stick locust, a proscopiid.

The Stick Grasshopper has a green to brown, cylindrical, and elongated body. It has a conical head with large eyes. It has short antennae. The wings are extremely short or absent. It cannot fly and protects itself by camouflaging itself like a stick. It has six long thin legs. It has strong hind (back) legs and it can jump large distances.

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Purple-Winged Hopper

The Purple-Winged Hopper (Titanacris albipes) is a large insect in the Romaleidae family of lubber grasshoppers. It is also known as the Purple Grasshopper. The Pink Grasshopper (Tinacris gloriosa) is in the same Ramaleidae family. 

The Purple-Winged Hopper has a heavy, cylindrical, green body and rounded head. It has olive-green forewings (front wings). Its hind (back) wings are violet purple.It has six legs with receptors on each leg that can detect movement and vibrations as well as temperature.Its hind legs are large. At the end of each leg, at the bottom of the tarsus, are claws called tarsal claws which are used for gripping grass and leaves.

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The Feet of the Grasshopper

What do the feet of the Grasshopper look like?

The Grasshopper, Cricket, and Locust are insects in the Orthoptera order and the Caelifera suborder, with thousands of different species. Most of them are in the Acridoidea superfamily of grasshoppers and locusts. They are all herbivorous, eating grass and vegetation.

They have six legs with receptors on each leg that can detect movement and vibrations as well as temperature.

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Egyptian Cricket

The Egyptian Cricket (Homoeogryllus xanthographus) is a small insect in the Phalangopsidae family of crickets. It is also knowns as the Beetle Cricket. It is related to grasshoppers.

The Egyptian Cricket has a black, oval-shaped body with a flat plate on its back. It has long, thread-like antennae. It has long hind legs (back legs). Near the tail of its body, it has a pair of light-beige tubes. It has transparent wings.

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Roesel’s Bush-Cricket

The Roesel’s Bush-Cricket (Metrioptera roeselii) is a medium-sized insect in the Tettigoniid family of crickets. Bush-crickets are commonly called katydids in America, and have previously been called Long-Horned Grasshoppers.

The Roesel’s Bush-Cricket is varied in colour, but usually brown, yellow, or greenish-brown. At the sides of its pronotum are yellow striped margins. It has three yellow-green spots along its yellow abdomen. It has long antennae. It has transparent wings.

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Large Banded Grasshopper

The Large Banded Grasshopper (Arcyptera fusca) is a medium-sized invertebrate insect in the Acrididae family of short horned grasshoppers. 

The Large Banded Grasshopper is a yellow-green or brownish-green colour with dark markings. It has long, strong hind (back) legs that enable it to jump long distances. Its hind legs are red, with black and white banded knees. The male has wings and can fly, whereas the female has only basic wings and cannot fly. 

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Giant Katydid

The Giant Katydid (Stilpnochlora couloniana) is a leaf-like insect. It looks like a grasshopper.

The Giant Katydid is lime green to dark-green. It has brown eyes. Its wings look like a leaf on a tree. The male has a narrower body and longer antennae than the female. It has strong hind (back) legs for jumping. The male can produce a song (to the female) by rubbing its legs to its wings. 

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Grasshopper Saga

The Grasshopper Saga (Saga ephippigera ephippigera) is a medium-sized insect. It is in the Saginae sub-family of bush crickets, from the family of the Katydids. 

The Grasshopper Saga has varied colours, from light-green and dark-green to dark-brown or light-brown. Its head is usually darker than its body. The male has short wings, but the female is wingless. It has large antennae. Its legs have thorns.

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Magicicada Great Eastern Brood

The Magicicada (Magicicada) is a 13-year or 17-year periodical cicada, an insect in the order Hemiptera.

The Magicicada photographed are from the 17-year periodical cicadas of Brood X (Brood Ten), called the Great Eastern Brood, which emerged in 2004. Periodical cicadas are grouped into broods based on the calendar year when they emerge from the ground. There were an estimated 1.5 million of them in 2004. Every 17 years, it tunnels to the surface of the ground to breed. The next emergence of the Great Eastern Brood is in 2021. 

The adult Magicicada Great Eastern Brood had red eyes and a black thorax. Its wings are translucent with orange veins. The underside of its abdomen is black, orange, or striped with orange and black, depending on the species.

 

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Cambodian Short-Horned Grasshopper

The Cambodian Short-Horned Grasshopper is an insect in the Acrididae family of grasshoppers.

The Cambodian Short-Horned Grasshopper is bright green on its upperparts and yellow-green on its underbelly. It has a black line from its eye, running along the length of its body. It has a pair of wings and short antennae. Its back legs are enlarged, which enable it to jump long distances. Its legs have three segments.

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Cave Cricket

The Cave Cricket (Phaeophilacris bredoides) is an insect that looks like a spider, but it is related to the grasshopper.

The Cave Cricket has three segments: head, thorax, and abdomen. It is yellowish-grey to brown with a long body, long antennae and long hind legs (back legs). Its legs are covered with small, dark spots. It needs long antennae to feel surfaces and its prey in the dark. It has three pairs of legs (6 legs) with one pair of antennae, and a pair of false legs near its tail to act as stabilizers.

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