What do grasshoppers eat?

The singer of a sunny day, the most harmless creature of all the inhabitants of the summer meadow... Since childhood, everyone is convinced that grasshoppers eat only grass. A typical misconception of people who are not familiar with the lifestyle and customs of this insect. It is enough to carelessly take a grasshopper - and a tangible bite, sometimes to the point of blood, is guaranteed. Some species have a downright bulldog grip: an attempt to free themselves from a grasping blacksmith leads to the fact that the head remains on the skin, and its jaws can only be opened with a penknife... The ancient Greeks called them "decticus", that is, "biting". Why would peaceful herbivores need such weapons?

Secrets sitting in the grass

Outwardly, grasshoppers are very similar to locusts. The main differences are: the locust whiskers are short, the females do not have an ovipositor. Grasshoppers do not form herd forms; they bring benefits to agriculture rather than harm.

The most typical representative of this genus for our latitudes is the green grasshopper (Locusta viridissima L.). A spectacular large insect lives where there is a high grass stand. The patronizing coloration makes it invisible - when the grasshopper does not move or sing, it is not easy to notice it. On the sides along the body of the insect, a lighter stripe, similar to the stalk of a cereal, stretches, which masks it even better. The female differs from the male in larger size and the presence of a saber-shaped ovipositor.

Female green grasshopper

The grasshopper is secretive and shy. Alarmed, he either falls into the thick of the grass, or jumps, in a jump opens large transparent wings and flies away from the pursuer. It is quite difficult to observe grasshoppers in nature, so much of their life remains for people "behind the scenes", including dietary habits. Meanwhile, this creature can be transformed in an amazing way: from a vegetarian it turns into a dexterous predator, capable of getting a victim twice its size.

Larva

Grasshoppers are insects with incomplete transformation, that is, their larva resembles a smaller copy of an adult, only without wings. The ancient genus of Orthoptera reached our days from distant times, when the Carboniferous strata were formed, and since then has not changed at all.

Grasshopper larva

The life of a green grasshopper does not originate in a meadow, but in the soil, at a depth of about 5-7 centimeters. There, the insect emerges from the egg and begins the difficult path to the sun. The larva of the first instar (that is, before the first molt) is half a centimeter in size and is clothed in a whitish cover, tightly fitting it, with a bubble in the occipital part. Moving like a worm, it makes a move upward, and the bubble, swelling and falling, serves to push the soil particles apart. Having met a stone on the way, the larva is doomed, since it can only move in a straight line. Beetles, small locusts and other animals will be eaten at night, but if the grasshoppers are hungry, the hunt will take place at any time of the day. When the time comes for females to lay eggs, it is better to plant them one at a time, otherwise the struggle for territory will lead to fights and cannibalism. And the males will live peacefully with each other and chirp until the fall.

Such different grasshoppers

More than 6800 representatives of grasshoppers live on the globe. They are able to live everywhere except Antarctica, and a flexible food system plays an important role in this.

Some of them are examples of ideal camouflage. In the photo below - the quest "Find a Grasshopper":

A leafy grasshopper pretending to be dead
Green leaf-like grasshopper Phyllomimus
Ecuadorian lichen grasshopper
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