Some Orthoptera are among the most destructive of insects, while others are most revered for their songs. This Order of insects include grasshoppers, locusts, crickets, and katydids.

A California camouflage specialist, this grasshopper can be very hard to spot against the tiny granite chips of a dry river bed. The mottling pattern of similarly colored and size splotches of color successfully distracts our attention away from the delineation of the insect’s outline and compliments the uniformity of the scene. Males spend their days making rattlesnake-like buzzing sounds to attract females. If disturbed, they leap up with a flash of their brightly colored under wings and make impressive cracking sounds in flight before landing and consequently disappearing.

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• Common Name: Short Horned Grasshopper
• Order Name: Orthoptera
• Family Name: Acrididea

Some Orthoptera are among the most destructive of insects, while others are most revered for their songs. This Order of insects include grasshoppers, locusts, crickets, and katydids.

This young grasshopper lacks the fully developed wings of an adult. They have visible tympanic membranes for hearing located on the side of their abdomen. Their greatly enlarged hind legs allow grasshoppers to perform respectable and rapid leaps away from danger while many of them employ camouflage tactics as their primary line of defense. Other members of the orthoptera order such as crickets and katydids are well know for their musical talents.

Some Orthoptera are among the most destructive of insects, while others are most revered for their songs. This Order of insects include grasshoppers, locusts, crickets, and katydids.

This young grasshopper lacks the fully developed wings of an adult. They have visible tympanic membranes for hearing located on the side of their abdomen. Their greatly enlarged hind legs allow grasshoppers to perform respectable and rapid leaps away from danger while many of them employ camouflage tactics as their primary line of defense. Other members of the orthoptera order such as crickets and katydids are well know for their musical talents.

Some Orthoptera are among the most destructive of insects, while others are most revered for their songs. This Order of insects include grasshoppers, locusts, crickets, and katydids.

Melanoplus is an extensive genus of Short Horned Grasshopper. Several species can become serious pests to grass crops as vapidly increasing populations of nymphs and adults will eat vast quantities of plants. This mating pair was contributing to the already healthy population of hoppers found along the roadside in the Central Valley of California. These hoppers have tympana (ears) on each side of the first abdominal segment. Eggs are laid in the soil with the female’s short ovipositor and usually over winter to hatch as nymph the following year.

Some Orthoptera are among the most destructive of insects, while others are most revered for their songs. This Order of insects include grasshoppers, locusts, crickets, and katydids.

This Melanoplus grasshopper from the Owens Valley in California was baking in the early morning sun prior to a busy day of plant eating. These hoppers have brightly colored underwings and the males make a buzzing noise by rubbing a strip of tiny spines on their hind femur against the fore wing. Notice the large compound eyes and greatly enlarge and herringbone patterned hind femur used for leaping. These hoppers lay their eggs underground.

Some Orthoptera are among the most destructive of insects, while others are most revered for their songs. This Order of insects include grasshoppers, locusts, crickets, and katydids.

With few visible flowering plants in tropical rainforests, insect have been named the flowers of the jungle. This brightly colored grasshopper lives up to that reputation. With ears on the sides of its abdomen, these hoppers are distinguishable from crickets and katydids by the short stubby antennae. Locust relatives have and continue to effect man when they swarm in the millions during their migratory rampages, consuming everything in their path.

Some Orthoptera are among the most destructive of insects, while others are most revered for their songs. This Order of insects include grasshoppers, locusts, crickets, and katydids.

Bearing a remarkable similarity to a walking stick, this Ecuadorian Grasshopper group possesses thickened hind femora and a very stylized head which lacks the long antennae typical of stick insects. Within the insect realm, many species arrive at similar adaptive solutions to environmental pressures. The cryptic stick-like form seems to have served this grasshopper well. This species was fairly abundant and appeared to be naturally active during the day.

Some Orthoptera are among the most destructive of insects, while others are most revered for their songs. This Order of insects include grasshoppers, locusts, crickets, and katydids.

As a ground dweller feeding on organic material on the forest floor, this Brazilian grasshopper come equipped with formidable spines lining the tibia of the powerful hind legs. Presumably as the result of a previous struggle, this hopper has lost it’s left hind leg. This grasshopper also relies on camouflage with the leaf litter for protection. Notice the prominent crested pronotum. This can become quite exaggerated in some species.