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| Painted Grasshopper’s colourful life |
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Painted Grasshoppers are found in Milkweed(Calotropis gigantea) plants, which is their feed plant. It’s scientific name is poekilocerus pictus. Young ones are yellow in colour, on which orange, red, black dots will be there. As they grow by shedding their skin, they become blue and dark yellow coloured. They get these colours from the toxic material in their feed plant. These colours warn birds not to eat them. © Mallikarjuna.D.G. Young Grasshopper on a budding flower. © Mallikarjuna.D.G. Two grasshoppers climbing…! © Mallikarjuna.D.G. Grasshoppers are too heavy for this flower. A Grasshopper is an amazing insect that can leap 20 times the length of its own body. They have no ears. They hear with an organ called tympanum. Grasshoppers can be found almost everywhere in the world, except for the colder reagions near the North and South poles. There are 18,000 kinds of Grasshoppers in the world. The Painted Grasshopper in the photo feed only Milkweed(Calotropis gigantea) plants. Others will eat any type of plant they can find. They can destroy entire crops of clover, cotton, corn and other grains, causing millions of dollars in crop damages every year. When the female lays her eggs, she covers them with a paste-like liquid that will protect them during the winter. Nymphs grow for 40 to 60 days before they become adults. When a grasshopper is picked up, they ‘spit’ a brown liquid which protect them from attacks by insects such as ants. Grasshoppers will try to escape from their enemies by jumping up and flying away, or by hiding among leaves or the grass. © Mallikarjuna.D.G. Grasshopper holding the Milkweed leaf after shedding its skin. © Mallikarjuna.D.G. Double Decker, Triple Decker… The grasshoppers’ greatest enemies include various kinds of flies that lay their eggs in or near grasshopper eggs. After the fly eggs hatch, the new born flies eat the grasshopper eggs. Other enemies of grasshoppers include beetles, birds, mice, snakes and spiders. Another dangerous enemy of the grasshopper is the shoe. The shoe comes in various shapes and sizes, but all are equally dangerous to the grasshopper. Just ask any grasshopper that has been stepped on by one!
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