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Immature Elegant Grasshoppers from Swaziland

Elegant????
Location: Swaziland, Africa
January 21, 2012 1:35 pm
Hi,
I found this (but many other too…) grasshopper in Swaziland, while visiting the Hlane Park.
It looks like an Elegant Grasshopper, but the colours are slightly different.
Could you help me in identify it?
Thanks and all the best,
Luigi
Signature: Luigi

Unknown Grasshopper is immature Elegant Grasshopper

Dear Luigi,
We do not believe this is an Elegant Grasshopper, but none of our initial research has turned up an identification. We are posting your photo as unidentified in the hopes we will be able to provide something more specific at a later date.

Thanks Daniel,
maybe it’s a juvenile… it didn’t seem to be rare: some days before I found a whole branch of a tree full with them (I have pics, if you’re interested)
Anyways, let’s keep searching!
All the best,
Luigi

Hi Again Luigi,
We are inclined to think it is different species. Send more photos if you have time.

grasshoppers swaziland luigi 300x192 Immature Elegant Grasshoppers from Swaziland

Elegant Grasshopper Nymphs

Hi Luigi,
Interestingly, when we web searched the common name Elegant Grasshopper and Africa instead of the scientific name Zonocerus elegans, we quickly found this online pdf of Pests of Field Crops in Southern Africathat pictures the immature Elegant Grasshopper, and it is a perfect match to your photos. It seems your original hunch was correct after all. It seems it will feed on a large variety of cultivated crops including cotton, soy beans and fruit trees. Thanks for sending your additional photos.

grasshoppers swaziland luigi 2 300x199 Immature Elegant Grasshoppers from Swaziland

Elegant Grasshopper Nymphs

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¶ Posted 23 January 2012 § ‡ Comments (0) °

Bombay Locust from India

Strange looking bug!
Location: Karnataka, India
December 14, 2011 4:53 am
Dear Bugman,
I am from India, and came across this interesting specimen while out on a hike. Would very much appreciate your help in identifying the species.
Thanks!
Rohan
Signature: Rohan

Bombay Locust from India

Dear Rohan,
This positively gorgeous grasshopper has aposomatic coloration or warning coloration, a characteristic that is often found in the Toxic Milkweed Grasshoppers in the family Pyrgomorphidae. Many species found in South Africa cause severe toxic reaction if they are eaten. We believe we have correctly identified it as Aularches miliaris on the Siam Insect Zoo and Museum website. The God of Insects website indicates the common name is the Northern Spotted Grasshopper.

Thanks, dear Bugman! Has anyone told you that you’re super?

Hi again Rohan,
Super is a new adjective for us. Thanks for the compliment.

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¶ Posted 14 December 2011 § ‡ Comments (0) °

Herd of Toxic Milkweed Grasshoppers hatch in South Africa

South African grasshopper
Location: South Africa, KwaZulu-Natal, Hillcrest/Pinetown
December 9, 2011 8:14 am
Hi
took these pics during a trip to KwaZulu-Natal in October 2006, in a park outside of Durban. Hordes of grasshoppers emerged from the ground – at several different locations but almost simultaneously – thousands of them. Managed to get some pics of them emerging and several shots of individuals. Found similar pictures on your site – toxic milkweed grasshopper?what fascinated me most was that they alla hatched at the same moment. Any info on their life cycles,what triggers etc?
Signature: Jo Cannon

Toxic Milkweed Grasshopper Nymphs

Hi Jo,
Congratulations on properly identifying your Toxic Milkweed Grasshoppers in the family Pyrgomorphidae using our site. Your photographs are stunning. We are running a bit late at the moment and cannot devote more time to this posting, but we will do additional research later. We also need to subcategorize the numerous postings of Toxic Milkweed Grasshoppers in an effort to clean up our archives.

toxic milkweed grasshopper jo 300x234 Herd of Toxic Milkweed Grasshoppers hatch in South Africa

Toxic Milkweed Grasshopper Nymph

¶ Posted 09 December 2011 § ‡ Comments (0) °

Elegant Grasshopper, one of the Toxic Milkweed Grasshoppers

brilliant grasshopper
Location: Amani Nature Reserve, Northeast Tanzania
May 18, 2011 3:25 am
The local Swahili name is Ongeda (n-gay-duh), but I have no idea what its scientific name is. Apparently they are occasionally eaten.
Signature: Phil

Elegant Grasshopper

Dear Phil,
Our first impulse was to pose the possibility that this might be a Toxic Milkweed Grasshopper in the family Pyrgomorphidae. We are especially interested in your statement that they are consumed, which is contradictory to what we would expect. We haven’t the time to more thoroughly research this at the moment, but perhaps one of our readers will be able to locate a matching image on a credible website. We love finding beautiful photographs on FlickR, however, any identifications posted there require additional research.

Karl identifies Elegant Grasshopper
Hi Daniel and Phil:
It is indeed a Toxic Milkweed Grasshopper (also Foam Grasshopper) in the family Pyrgomorphidae. I am fairly certain that it is an Elegant Grasshopper (Zonocerus elegans), a short-winged and flightless grasshopper found throughout much of Africa south of the Sahara. They are sometimes also referred to as Rainbow Locusts. They are apparently slow and clumsy, relying primarily on their accumulated toxins for protection from predators. The toxins make them taste bad, although apparently not bad enough to make them inedible for humans. I found numerous references suggesting they are eaten in various parts of Africa. Regards. Karl

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¶ Posted 18 May 2011 § ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: Edible Insects: Tasty Morsels, Milkweed Meadow

Koppie Foam Grasshopper from South Africa

Colourful Grasshopper
Location: Natal Midlands in South Africa
February 20, 2011 5:58 am
We were travelling in the Natal Midlands of South Africa when I stumbled across this very colourful mean looking grasshopper. He was incidentally only a meter away from a Koppies Foam Grasshopper. Can you identify him?
Signature: Deryck

Toxic Milkweed Grasshopper

Dear Deryck,
We believe your specimen is a Koppie Foam Grasshopper, Dictyophorus spumans, or at least a closely related species of Toxic Milkweed Grasshopper in the same family, Pyrgomorphidae. Many times there is variability between individuals of the same species. The warning coloration or aposematic coloration that is evident in your photo is designed to warn predators that this Toxic Milkweed Grasshopper should not be eaten.

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¶ Posted 20 February 2011 § ‡ Comments (0) ° Tagged: Milkweed Meadow

Namibian Grasshopper: Roadkill

Red-headed, Red-legged, Red + Blue winged, Yellow striped bug
Mon, Feb 2, 2009 at 10:49 AM
Dear Bugman
I must begin with an apology that the bug whose identification I request is decapitated in the attached photograph but assure you that this is not a bug mug shot to be assigned to the ‘unnecessary carnage’ division. Its savage death occurred through no fault of my own and since squashing my last ant at the tender age of four, I harbour no entomophobic tendencies whatsoever. The unfortunate demise of this particular bug was marked by its collision with the front grid of a giant purple overland truck travelling at high speed across the border between Namibia and South Africa in the sweltering heat of summer. You will be pleased to know that a minute’s respectful silence was observed in memory of the roadkill bug; and I will be pleased to know its name.
Desperately Seeking sp.
The South African- Namibian border

probably Gaudy Grasshopper

Dear Desperately Seeking Species,
We suspect this is one of the Toxic Milkweed Grasshoppers in the family Pyrgomorphidae. The family is also known as the Gaudy Grasshoppers. Those warning colors are a dead giveaway. We are thoroughly amazed at the number of submissions from Namibia we have received in recent weeks. When time permits, we may try to do a more thorough species identification.

¶ Posted 03 February 2009 § ‡ Comments (1) °

Immature Toxic Milkweed Grasshopper from South Africa

South African Grasshopper
Mon, Jan 5, 2009 at 7:43 AM
Photographed at Cape Point, SA. A photo is attached.
Brett
Cape Point, South Africa

Immature Toxic Milkweed Grasshopper

Hi Brett,
This is an immature Toxic Milkweed Grasshopper, AKA Gaudy Grasshopper, AKA Bushlocust, in the family Pyrgomorphidae. It may be Phymateus saxosus, but we are not certain. Grasshoppers in this family feed on toxic milkweed and stores the toxic compounds in their bodies. If injested, sickness or possibly even death may result. The warning colors are a signal to not eat.

¶ Posted 06 January 2009 § ‡ Comments (1) °

Milkweed Grasshopper from South Africa

What’s this?
Fri, Jan 2, 2009 at 8:49 AM
Hello,
The colourful little (well not so little) grasshopper in the picture and three of his friends/family have decided to make a plant outside our gate their home. The rest of the family appears to have moved on. We thing it is a Milkweed grasshopper. Please confirm this. Also can you tell us how to remove them without 1) getting hurt/poisoned ourselves and 2) hurting the grasshoppers.
Regards,
Nelspruit, Mpumalanga

Toxic Milkweed Grasshopper

We first did a google search to substantiate that Mpumalanga is in fact in South Africa because your image matched a photo taken in January 2000 that we received back in February 2006. That specimen was eventually identified as Phymateus leprosus , one of the Toxic Milkweed Grasshoppers or Gaudy Grasshoppers in the family Pyrgomorphidae . This species is also called a Bush Locust or sometimes Bushlocust. The toxicity, if our information is correct, results in ingesting them, not from handling them. You should be able to just catch them and release them to a more suitable location. Your specimen is an immature nymph as adults have fully developed wings.