The truth about grasshoppers is that few people know it

Grasshopper is an insect, located in the subdivision containing leaf-eating insects, belonging to straight wings, round head, fat body, good jumping and especially harming green plants. When moving, they can crawl with all three feet on the tree, jump from tree to tree with their hind legs or jump and fly into the air with wings.

  1. Common name : Grasshopper
  2. Scientific name : Caelifera
  3. Industry : Arthropods
  4. P: Insects
  5. Ministry : Straight suit
  6. Food : Gnawing buds and eating leaves
  7. Size : 40-45mm in adults
  8. Characteristics : Move into herds

Living environment

The most ideal habitat of grasshoppers is on large rice fields. It is estimated that there are about 2,400 genera and about 11,000 eligible species scattered throughout the world, concentrated mainly in the tropical region.

Types of grasshoppers

Some classified documents: ghost grasshoppers, bamboo grasshoppers, elephant grasshoppers, monkey grasshoppers, . with the characteristics of the head and the hard wing; and called the crackling with sharp, tough wings.
Based on the structure of the front chest plate, forehead and top of the head, grasshoppers are divided into 4 subfamilies: locust-locust (Acridinae); grasshoppers migrate; grasshopper spines; Grasshopper.
In Vietnam, grasshoppers usually have two types: grasshoppers (Oxya chinensis) and bamboo grasshoppers.

Picture 1 of The truth about grasshoppers is that few people know it
The most ideal habitat of grasshoppers is on large rice fields.

Body composition

The grasshopper body consists of 3 parts:

  1. Head: including beard, double eyes, mouth organs
  2. Chest: 3 pairs of legs, 2 wings
  3. Abdominal: contains many burns, each has 1 breathing hole

Picture 2 of The truth about grasshoppers is that few people know it

Characteristics, shapes

Grasshoppers have 2 antennae, shorter than the body, sometimes with many small fibers

  1. This insect emits sound by rubbing the rear femur into the front or abdomen, or by splitting the wings when flying.
  2. The auditory membrane of locust locates on the sides of the first abdominal segment
  3. The rear femur is long and strong, to perform jumping movements
  4. There are wings, but the back wings are like membranes; The front wings are tough so they cannot be used to fly
  5. The grasshopper is bigger than the male grasshopper, the egg-laying organ is short

Flexible mobility

Compared with other insects such as mantis, orange wing, ants, beetles, . the ability of locusts to move is somewhat more flexible thanks to the more developed legs that help the body bounce off spot clinging to another place very quickly. In case they want to go away, they just need to jump up and spread their wings and fly freely from one place to another. In addition, grasshoppers can also crawl slowly with all 3 feet.

Picture 3 of The truth about grasshoppers is that few people know it
Grasshoppers breathe by 'breathing' through the abdomen.

Respiratory mechanism

Grasshoppers breathe by 'breathing' through the abdomen. When grasshoppers are alive, their abdomen is always heaving to perform inhalation and release air through the abdominal cavity.

The mechanism of food digestion

With the characteristic of healthy and sharp mouth; The barrier is easy to pick up food, soak the saliva and concentrate in the kite, then the food is crushed in the stomach, then digested by the intestinal secretions.

Reproductive and developmental characteristics

Grasshopper locust, with beam gonads, tubular gonads. When mating, the male grasshopper rides on the female, opens the lid of her back, and pushes the entire penis structure out of her body; then, it bulges the penis structure like a ball and then connects to the female genitalia to begin the mating process.

The eggs will be laid on the ground into a nest, some tens of fruits will stick together by a layer of sticky foam covering the outside to prevent the eggs from drying out. Young grasshoppers hatched like mature grasshoppers but small, not enough wings to undergo many molting times called mature maturity.

Picture 4 of The truth about grasshoppers is that few people know it
Grasshopper locust, with beam gonads, tubular gonads.

Life cycle of grasshoppers

The life cycle of grasshoppers lasts from 200 to 210 days , including:

  1. Egg phase: 12 - 21 days
  2. Young worms: 100 days
  3. Adult stage: about 3 months, females live longer than males
  4. Mature grasshopper after 5 - 40 days begins to mate; spawning eggs after 10 - 41 days. Each female can lay 3 drives, each with 10 - 102 fruits

Grasshoppers grow through incomplete metamorphosis. Young children have to undergo many molting times to become adults.

Pandemic locust

The voracious grasshopper, many litters, each egg lays many eggs, so the ability to reproduce is extremely large, the risk of damaging plants and crops is very formidable. In the world and even in our country, there have been many times the locust pandemic. Because where they fly is to destroy crops, eat leaves, tops of rice, greatly affect the flora populations, affect the lives of all the remaining organisms in terrestrial ecosystems.

Young grasshoppers soon after hatching began to sabotage. Vandalism mainly takes place at night. They ate the leaves, blanched into plaques leaving the main veins, biting off the cotton paddy, causing white flat. In addition, grasshoppers are also active at around 7-10 hours and 16-17 hours per day. Grasshoppers move into flocks, constantly eating, mating and laying off babies, so they are capable of destroying any plant-containing environment.

Some other interesting information

  1. To study the exoticness of the species' reproductive system, scientists have adopted two grasshoppers in the best conditions and expect the two to perform the mating process and freeze them at temperatures. -80 degrees Celsius, conduct tomography and analysis of strange things.
  2. There is a giant grasshopper, a normal one that can weigh more than 35g, so they cannot jump like normal ones.
  3. Another information is also said: giant grasshoppers of Little Barrier Island (New Zealand) are the largest insects in the world. As an adult, this grasshopper weighs 71g, 8.5cm long; This species is currently at risk of extinction.
  4. Grasshoppers and locusts are not necessarily different species; because locusts are also a growth stage of grasshoppers
  5. In addition to the ability to crawl, jump, fly, grasshoppers can swim when jumping into the water.
  6. Grasshoppers are currently one of the five most super jumping species in the world. It can jump 20 times its body length; It is equivalent to one being able to jump from the top of the field to the end of the basketball court.
    Some species of grasshoppers are used to detect explosives due to their ability to detect smell
  7. Some species of grasshoppers are used to detect explosives due to their ability to detect smell