Gray Bird Grasshopper, Eggs and Nymphs

bugman

November 19th, 2007 at 1:00 am

Categories

Grasshoppers

CA large grasshopper
We live in Los Angeles, CA. My husband caught this grasshopper for our boys to look at in September. We got more than we bargained for as it layed eggs the first night. Six weeks later they ALL hatched. I’ve been trying to figure out what kind of grasshopper it is, but haven’t found an exact match. I’ve attached a photo of the mother who was close to 4 inches long, as well as the egg sac, and nyphs.
Jenny

Hi Jenny,
What a wonderful letter. We generally try to scan letters that come in on a given day before deciding what to post, but on occasion, there is a letter so special that we just immediately post it. Your grasshopper is a Gray Bird Grasshopper, Schistocerca nitens, a common species in the Los Angeles area. According to Charles Hogue in Insects of the Los Angeles Basin, the adults are generally found in the spring. The large female Gray Bird Grasshoppers are about twice as large as the males. The nymphs are bright green. Both nymphs and adults feed on the leaves of crops and ornamental garden plants.

Bird Grasshopper (November 30, 2006)
Obscure Birdwing Grasshopper or American Bird Grasshopper (March 14, 2006)
Probably Bird Grasshopper (November 6, 2005)
Alutacea Bird Grasshopper (October 21, 2005)
Gray Bird Grasshopper (March 14, 2005)

Comments 1

Steve Carras wrote:
Hi, bnew here, been looking at this site a number of but never really noticed the comment function. Anyway, Daniel, Lise, whoever, you are right. I too, be common in the Los Angeles area..:) [see some of those every other day]…C.L.Hogue was part right, two generations a year, with adults usually appearing in the spring and fall, though I’ve seen summer adults as well. Even saw one of those at Disneyland, where I usually don’t see many hoppers [real ones]..flying..like big birds. Hogue points out these are immensely large [YouTube has a number of videos, usually without naming the species..Grasshopper freakout, chihuahua and hoppers] , the females especially, and they are like big birds when they fly [cue Nelly Furtado.].BTW I too notice the mothl;y slip a new moths I mean months I mean minutes ago. And I like the name of the site, too.
Posted 13 Mar 2009 at 10:17 pm ¶