Subject: Query-Locust
Location: about 15 km west of Port Elizabeth
March 30, 2015 9:59 am
On a January (2015) trip to the Eastern Cape of South Africa, we stopped the car to enable the pictured creature to cross the road. It was walking quite slowly, but determined. Body length was around 5cm (=2 inches). Not having any detailed field guide for S.African insects, I just couldn’t put a name to it, although I suspect it’s some kind of locust. We don’t see its like in the UK!
Signature: Neil Henry
Dear Neil,
This magnificent grasshopper is a member of the family Pyrgomorphidae and many individuals in the family are known as Toxic Milkweed Grasshoppers, Gaudy Grasshoppers or Koppie Foam Grasshoppers. We believe we have correctly identified your individual as Phymateus leprosus subsp. leprosus based on an image on iSpot. This seems to be a variably colored species.
I have noticed this grasshopper in my garden over a number of years. For any ones information I live in Waterfall, situated between Kloof & Hillcrest, Kwazulu Natal.