All about grasshoppers
- The grasshopper is one of the most ancient insects on Earth. Since their appearance, they have not changed at all.
- The grasshopper is capable of jumping to a height of two meters. If we take into account the size of such an insect, then in jumping ability it is hopeless and far ahead of even the most outstanding jumping athletes.
- Grasshoppers are able to change their own color depending on the shade of the environment, and therefore it is unrealistic to identify a grasshopper by its color.
Description and features
- The grasshopper usually has a body length from 1 to 5 cm, but in some individuals the size of the grasshopper can vary up to 15 cm.
- Such insects are recognized by their long body and laterally compressed head, on which there are 2 compound eyes with an oval shape.
- The grasshopper has quite powerful jaws, and therefore, when bitten by this insect, a person may feel pain.
- Both the adult and the grasshopper larva have a green body color.
- Small black spots can occasionally be found on the body of grasshoppers.
Anatomy of a grasshopper
When studying the question of what a grasshopper looks like, it is worth noting that this insect has three pairs of legs. In this case, the front 4 limbs are necessary for the insect to walk. As for the muscular hind legs, they allow the grasshopper to push off from any surface with enormous force, and also make it possible to make an impressive high jump.
The impressive antennae, which are usually longer than the body of the grasshopper, serve as an organ of touch. The body of such an insect itself has 3 sections. The first of them is a large head, on which huge faceted eyes clearly stand out. The other two parts are the chest and belly.
Grasshoppers have two pairs of wings: the first pair is leathery elytra with straight veins, the second pair is membranous wings folded like a fan, on which the veins are located straight.
The grasshopper's nervous system consists of nerve cells freely located in the body. They are called ganglia. These cells generally exist in almost all species. All ganglia are connected to the center - the brain.
Orthoptera pests
Many representatives of the order damage crops such as corn, cucumbers, and potatoes. Thus, locusts can destroy fields in a short time. Herds fly 100 km a day to get a treat.
In addition to all types of locusts, dangerous pests include the mole cricket and the Italian locust. Mole crickets love to gnaw on root crops; sometimes a few insects reduce the harvest by half. Another dangerous orthopteran is the green grasshopper, which gnaws out grape buds and eats flowers. It harms not only grapes, but also oranges and lemons.
Types of grasshoppers
- The steppe grasshopper is one of the giant grasshoppers. The size of this insect can be up to 8 cm. Their wings are underdeveloped. Usually they are either quite short or completely absent. The color of such a grasshopper is green, and sometimes with a yellowish tint. This type of grasshopper is common in various areas of southern Europe. This insect is especially common in the steppe overgrown with wormwood and in ravines that are covered with sparse bushes. Such grasshoppers are a rare species, and the number of their representatives on Earth is regularly decreasing.
- Green grasshoppers have a body length of approximately 3 cm, but in some situations these insects grow up to 6 cm. Such grasshoppers are found in some European countries, in the territory up to the Far East, and also in Africa.
- The greenhouse grasshopper is the smallest species of these insects. A representative of this type can jump almost 0.5 meters in height. Outwardly, this type of insect resembles not a grasshopper, but a spider, but at the same time they have large antennae, which are responsible for the sense of smell. The color of such creatures is gray or brown. There are usually dark spots on their body. For the most part, such a grasshopper is a resident of the central region of China, but together with plants of this type, insects spread further west to Europe, right up to the Crimea.
- The ball-headed grasshopper is a whole family of large grasshoppers, representatives of the long-whiskered suborder. Their body sizes are large. Such grasshoppers have a large spherical head, and their elytra are shortened. There are approximately 7 species of these grasshoppers in different territories of the former Soviet Union. They can also be found in Eurasia and northern Africa.
- The steppe fatty is a type of insect that is considered a rare species. Today, their habitat has been significantly reduced. It was possible to record the existence of such grasshoppers in the vicinity of Rostov, in the Krasnodar Territory, in Kabardino-Balkaria and other regions of the Russian Federation. This black grasshopper has an unusual body color with a bronze tint.
Harm and benefits of green grasshopper
Many gardeners, seeing an abundance of grasshoppers in their summer cottage or vegetable garden, try to remove them. Usually, remedies for harmful bugs are used. The main goal that people pursue is to prevent insects from breeding. In part, these fears are not unfounded. After all, the larvae that hatch from the eggs eat all day long, and during the first molt, their food becomes precisely fresh young greens.
However, the complete absence of a grasshopper during all periods of its development threatens such an unpleasant consequence for the beds as an increase in the number of phytophages - insects that feed exclusively on plants. And if the presence of a green grasshopper can still be tolerated, the presence of herbivorous creatures will definitely not contribute to a good harvest.
Basically, all the fears of farmers who take sometimes unjustified measures to drive the jumper out of their crops are based on the physiological similarity of the two types of insects. The grasshopper (see photo below) looks like a dangerous pest - a locust. Despite the fact that insects are clearly different from each other, many business owners are intensively reducing the number of both of them with the same intensity.
Lifestyle and habitat
The life of a grasshopper is solitary. They can fly and jump perfectly. They do not have a permanent home, because grasshoppers tend to live on bushes, grass or trees, and in the hot season they can spend days among the greenery, leaving the shelter only early in the morning.
The grasshopper's habitat is varied. They are found everywhere. This insect is considered so hardy and unpretentious to living conditions that it can successfully take root in almost any corner of the world, excluding only those places where there is eternal ice and snow. This insect can be found on the plains, in the highlands, in green meadow grass, in humid, hot jungles, and in arid deserts.
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The grasshopper feels great not only in the steppe, but also in the tropical rainforest and tundra. These insects live on all continents of the Earth except Antarctica.
These creatures conduct their life activities on the surface. Hiding underground and in secluded places under fallen branches and stumps, in holes and hollows of trees is unacceptable for them. Typically, grasshoppers simply move around on grass and other plants in an attempt to hide from the hot sun and bad weather. During the day, such an insect usually rests and hunts only at night.
Adaptation of grasshoppers to their environment
The adaptation of grasshoppers is indicated not only by how the insect behaves: whether it flies or jumps. Grasshoppers have their own techniques for camouflaging themselves with their environment. Some species of grasshoppers can pretend to be damaged leaves. At this moment, their body acquires dots and spots that imitate rot and plant diseases. Some varieties of such insects have irregularities and asymmetrical shortening at the edges of the elytra, which gives the impression of torn leaves or simply pieces of them. Some grasshoppers, due to their dark brown color, imitate scorched and completely rotten wings.
Grasshoppers are cautious insects, and at the slightest noise of footsteps they freeze motionless and become silent. If the enemy approaches, the grasshopper begins to escape with a quick and long jump. At the same time, it pushes off with its hind legs and is able to jump a distance of 1-2 meters.
Nutrition
Grasshoppers eat larvae and small insects. At the same time, they eat small locusts, aphids and ticks.
Speaking about what a grasshopper eats in a meadow, it is worth saying that it eats butterflies, beetles and caterpillars.
In situations of food shortage, especially if they find themselves captive in a confined space, grasshoppers attack their relatives.
To get the right dose of nutrients, protein and salts, these insects consume feces and carrion.
As a plant food, almost all varieties of grasshoppers eat plant leaves, but always only with young shoots. There are species of insects for which this type of nutrition is the main and even the only one.
Reproduction and lifespan
The time and duration of the mating season for grasshoppers directly depends on the region where they live. In the temperate zone, the mating season begins with the warm days of May and ends around September. Depending on the weather changes of a particular season, the presented dates change.
The seed of a male grasshopper ripens in a special capsule before the mating season. After this, the male hangs the vial on the female’s abdomen, where his seed is located. And so the seminal fluid enters the female oviduct. After this, the female grasshopper bears the testicles and the development of the grasshopper embryo begins.
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After several days, the female lays eggs, choosing the most suitable, secluded and quiet place for this. The number of eggs can be incredibly large: from 100 to 1000 pieces.
After a certain period of time, a grasshopper larva appears. She goes through a number of stages of her development, undergoing up to 6 molts. At the end of this, the larvae form wings and other organs that adults have. Reproductive body parts also appear.
Grasshoppers, whose lifespan is short, even taking into account the egg stage, exist only for one season. Essentially, it is measured by the warm days of a certain year, but the process of reproduction continues until the cold weather.
The female intuitively senses winter, and therefore lays grasshopper eggs directly into the ground. In this state, they tolerate the cold and continue to live next spring, unlike their parents, who die with the onset of frost.
On average, grasshoppers live for about 2 weeks.
Species and types of Orthoptera
Scientists divide the Orthoptera order into 2 suborders: long-whiskered and short-whiskered. The short-whiskered ones include 2 suborders - locusts and quails. Longwhiskers can be distinguished by their antennae, which are longer than the length of the body. The auditory organ of these insects is located on the lower leg. This suborder includes 2 superfamilies - grasshoppers and crickets.
Grasshoppers - features and characteristics
Representatives of grasshoppers are easy to identify: the tarsi on their legs are 4-segmented, the ovipositor of insects is tightly compressed on the sides or strongly curved. The wings of individuals are well developed, sometimes they extend beyond the apex of the abdomen. However, when the insect rests, the elytra are folded, thereby protecting the wings.
Another difference between grasshoppers is the sound apparatus located on the elytra. At the base of the right wing there is a “mirror”, which is a transparent membrane surrounded by a vein. The left elytra also has a similar membrane, but it is matte and denser. The vein that surrounds the membrane is thick and equipped with teeth. This vein is stridulatory. It is a bow when the mirror is a resonator. When vocalizing, the insect spreads its elytra and vibrates them; during this, the denticles of the stridulatory vein rub against the vein of the “mirror” - thanks to this instrument, the chirping spreads throughout the area. Usually only males have a sound apparatus, but females of some species also possess it.
The organ of hearing in grasshoppers is located on the forelimbs. It consists of membranes that perform the function of the eardrums. In almost all species, they are protected by chitinous covers, so from the outside you can only see the cracks that lead to the hearing aid. Inside the organ of hearing there are sensory cells, muscles and two branches of the trachea.
It is difficult to notice an insect in the grass - the color of its body is similar to the color of the grass and leaves. Insects achieve this by expanding the elytra. Special venation also helps, with the help of which the grasshopper camouflages itself either as healthy or dead leaves. For example, the species Cycloptera elegans has brown spots on its wings that mimic a fungal infection.
Grasshoppers differ from other species due to an unusual method of fertilization: the male attaches a spermatophore to the end of the abdomen of the expectant mother. The spermatophore consists of a vial, which is the main part, and a spermatophylax.
Male grasshopper with spermatophore
The bottle is protected on top by a shell, and inside it there are two cavities in which sperm are located. During mating, the male inserts the neck of the bottle into the female's genital opening. After the process, the female eats the spermatophylax. She does this for a very long time, during these hours the seminal fluid flows into the oviduct and after that the female eats the bottle itself. The process of spermatophore suspension plays a huge role. Spermatophyllix destroys the female's ability to mate again.
In grasshoppers, females lay eggs in the summer. The eggs overwinter and become larvae in the spring. Wings begin to develop after molting. After the 3rd molt in their life, the wings become triangular and veins appear. The wings are fully formed only after the 4th molt.
Grasshopper families
The grasshopper superfamily includes the family of raphidophorids, bradiporids, and true grasshoppers.
Raphidophorids are distinguished from the rest by their long antennae. These are wingless grasshoppers and inhabit the tropics. Representatives of the family are large in size, with the exception of the greenhouse grasshopper, whose body length is 13 mm.
Bradyporids are inhabitants of the deserts and steppes of Eurasia. Their distinctive feature is the special arrangement of the antennae: they are attached to the head below eye level. The elytra of these insects are shortened. A prominent representative of bradyporids is the saddleback. This species was named so because of the saddle-shaped pronotum, which amplifies the sound like a megaphone.
Representatives of true grasshoppers differ from raphidophorids in that they have a hearing organ on the shins of their forelimbs. One of the brightest representatives of this family is the green grasshopper.
Green grasshopper
This is a large insect with narrow elytra that protect transparent wings. The green grasshopper can be found almost everywhere; it only dislikes the northern territories. Being in the desert, the insect gravitates only to river valleys, and in the forest zone you can meet the grasshopper in meadows and forest edges. The Ussuri green grasshopper is similar to this member of the family. It inhabits deciduous forests in the Far East.
One of the largest true grasshoppers in Russia is the steppe grasshopper. The length of the insect's body is about 6 cm. The rack can wait for hours for its prey, sitting in the grass. She feeds on locusts.
Crickets - features and characteristics
Crickets can be distinguished from other superfamilies by the fact that they have three-segmented tarsi and a thin ovipositor that widens towards the end. Only the mole cricket does not have an ovipositor.
Medvedka
The elytra of representatives of the superfamily at rest lie so that the right one covers the left one. Scientists associate this with the special structure of the sound apparatus: the “bow” in insects is on the right elytra, and the “violin” on the left. Only males have this apparatus, and there are 6 types of vocalizations: calling and mating, chirping after mating, aggressive chirping, vocalization that arose due to the disappearance of the female, and “identification” chirping.
Mating chirping is more common, as it attracts females. During mating, the male suspends the spermatophore from the belly of the expectant mother. This organ is similar to that of grasshoppers, but lacks spermatophylax. A couple of days after mating, the female lays eggs. After 30 days, crickets hatch, which are almost copies of the adult. After the 2nd molt they dig small holes. Crickets molt several more times before winter sets in. The final moult occurs in the spring, after which the crickets fully mature.
Cricket families
The cricket superfamily includes the family Gryllidae, Oecanthidae, Myrmecophilidae Gryllotalpidae.
Most species belong to the cricket family. A striking representative of this taxon is the field cricket, which inhabits Central Asia and Africa.
field cricket
The length of the insect's body varies from 2 to 2.6 cm. The color of the cricket is black. The house cricket is also quite common. The length of its body varies from 1.6 cm to 2 cm. The body of the insect is straw-fawn. Like many crickets, it is nocturnal.
The stem cricket (or trumpeter) is quite peculiar . Its body is quite delicate, colored yellow. These insects inhabit steppes and deserts and are found in the Ussuri region.
Stem cricket
An interesting insect to study is the common ant-loving cricket from the family Myrmecophilidae. They have no wings, their body length is 2 mm. Females of the species can reproduce partogenetically.
Ant-loving cricket
Mole crickets are absolutely unique insects. They are easily distinguished by their large pronotum and small antennae. The modified prolegs of the insect are excellent at digging the ground. The body length of the mole cricket is only 3-5 cm, it is colored brown. During the breeding season, insects create systems of underground passages where they arrange uterine chambers.
Short mustache - features and characteristics
Short mustaches have small antennae that do not exceed the length of the body. The tarsi of the hind limbs are always three-segmented. An important difference is the short ovipositor.
Short-whiskered families
The short-whiskered ones include representatives of the family of true locusts, jumpers and quails, eumastacids, pamphagids and pyrgomorphids.
Representatives of quails are small insects, the length of their bodies ranges from 4 to 9 mm. Their legs are well adapted for digging. A special feature of these insects is their clear antennae, which consist of dozens of segments.
Thripers do not have a hearing aid, and females do not have an ovipositor. A typical representative is the common quail. The insect has a flattened body, which is colored golden brown. Its length is about 5 mm. The insect inhabits the steppes of Eurasia and is widespread in Belarus.
Representatives of true locusts are insects whose sound apparatus is located on the elytra and thighs of the hind limbs. This family includes the migratory locust. The species is presented in 2 phases: solitary and gregarious. The single phase of the locust is called the "filly". In representatives of the solitary phase, the pronotum is saddle-shaped, and the elytra are longer than in the gregarious phase. The color of the insect is yellowish-green, there are many dark spots on the body. In locusts, sexual dimorphism is expressed in size: the body length of males ranges from 35 to 50 mm, in females this figure is usually 55 mm. The insect inhabits Japan, Iran, China and France.
Jumpers are the smallest insects of the superfamily. Their bodies are painted in dark colors to better blend with the ground, and their pronotums are elongated. Some species can reproduce several times a year. A typical representative is the thin-whiskered jumper. Its color is usually gray or brown. He loves wet meadows and forest clearings.
Eumastacids are insects that inhabit tropical areas. The length of their bodies ranges from 1 to 2 cm. They do not chirp. A prominent representative is Phytomastax robusta. Inhabits Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan. Prefers to settle on mountain slopes.
Phytomastax robusta
Pamphagidae family includes large insects whose outer coverings have a rough structure. They are common in Africa and the deserts of Europe and Asia.
Pyrgomorphids are a family predominant in tropical areas. Individuals have a conical head. A typical insect of the family is the desert pyrgophorfa. The insect lives in the Transcaucasus and Kazakhstan. The length of its body varies from 1.5 cm to 2. Pyrgomorpha has sword-shaped antennae and a crown that looks like a duck's nose due to the fact that it protrudes forward. The insect is presented in 2 morphs: green and grayish.
Singing grasshoppers
Grasshopper music has different themes. Strong short trills intimidate competitors. Males emit them before fights, in which they often inflict certain damage on the enemy. The outcome of the fight can be fatal, but the most terrible damage is considered to be the loss of the mustache. A beardless male will sink to the lowest rung of the social ladder.
The male also chirps to attract the attention of the female. The louder his love song, the greater the chances for mating and the appearance of offspring. As soon as the female shows some interest in the male, the singing becomes quieter. Then the second part of the “concert” begins - the enchanting one. When grasshoppers perform a romantic serenade, this insect slightly rises on its hind legs and dances.
Food[edit | edit code]
Contrary to popular belief, the vast majority of grasshoppers are omnivores with a penchant for carnivory. In fact, in many ways, grasshoppers are similar to praying mantises: they are also camouflage hunters, and also grab prey with their jagged front legs. But some species feed only on plants. Several species are reported as agricultural pests. Usually, due to the low population density compared to locusts and grasshoppers, the harm from them is insignificant, but some species in certain years are able to form different phases, like locusts, and then the damage from them becomes more noticeable.
The chirping of a grasshopper: what does a grasshopper chirp with?
These insects are known to everyone for their ability to make unusual sounds - chirping. At the same time, these sounds of a grasshopper are rightfully unique, and also differ in volume, melody and timbre depending on the variety of grasshopper.
Representatives of each species of grasshopper boast a unique sound. The role of the “tool” in this aspect is played by a special membrane, which is located on the left elytra. It has a thick vein with teeth. She is a kind of bow.
Taxonomy [edit | edit code ]
The following subfamilies are distinguished in the grasshopper family:
The grasshopper is a herbivorous insect from the suborder Orthoptera, order Orthoptera. To distinguish them from crickets or katydids, they are sometimes called short-horned grasshoppers. Species that change color and behavior at high population densities are called locusts. There are about 11,000 known species of grasshoppers found around the world, often found in grassy fields, meadows and forests.
