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UnidentifiedUnidentified Locust?
Hi
I hope you can help. I took the attached photograph of this Locust? in the Drakensberg Mountains at Cathedral Peak, South Africa, about six weeks ago. I have not been able to identify at this stage and hope you are able to assist.
With thanks
Iain Davidson
Hi Iain,
This really looks like the Foaming Grasshopper, Dictyophorus spumans, a toxic species in the family Pyrgomorphidae (Gaudy Grasshoppers), but the wings look longer than we have found on online images. These grasshoppers feed on milkweed and store heart poisons called cardiac glycosides in their bodies. When threatened, the grasshoppers exude a foam containing the poisons.
Related Posts
- Another South African Gaudy Grasshopper (January 23, 2008)
- South African Grasshopper (May 20, 2006)
- Gaudy Grasshopper from Indonesia (March 20, 2008)
- Immature Toxic Milkweed Grasshopper from South Africa (January 6, 2009)
- Foaming Grasshopper from South Africa (October 11, 2009)
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[...] Sharon, This appears to be a Foaming Grasshopper or Koppie Foam Grasshopper, Dictyophorus spumans, one of the Toxic Milkweed Grasshoppers in the [...]
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