Photos of grasshoppers, description, types. Grasshoppers. Photos of grasshoppers, description, types Interesting facts about grasshoppers for schoolchildren

02.05.2016

Grasshoppers are a superfamily of orthopteran insects from the suborder of long-whiskers that live on all continents of the Earth except Antarctica. They have two pairs of wings - the first pair is leathery elytra with straight veins, the second pair is membranous wings that fold like a fan, on which the veins are located straight. Their hind legs are jumping, and their mouthparts are of a gnawing type. What interesting facts from the life of grasshoppers can we give as an example to get acquainted with these insects?

Many of the grasshoppers have organs of hearing (on the front legs) and sound (sound is obtained as a result of friction of parts of the elytra, on one of which there are “mirrors”, and on the other “bows”). In most species of grasshoppers, only males sing, females do not have a "mirror", but there is an ovipositor. Efippiger females - wingless grasshoppers, can also chirp.
Most often, grasshoppers have a green or brown color, however, the Madagascar grasshopper is very brightly colored. They can also change their color depending on the color of the environment, so it is impossible to identify these insects by color.
Grasshoppers can jump up to 20 times their body length. And although they have wings, they usually move with the help of jumping hind long limbs. Their jump replaces the flight, since in the process of it they practically “fly” over a great distance without the help of wings.
Grasshoppers are not all clean herbivorous insects, they can feed on tapeworms, fruit flies, other members of their superfamily, and can bite humans painfully. Some of them simply have a death grip, and you can unhook such a grasshopper from the body only by opening its jaws with a penknife. However, there are species that feed exclusively on grass.
Grasshoppers weigh only about 2-3 grams, however, they can push off the substrate with a force of up to 30 grams.
The closest relatives of grasshoppers are locusts and crickets, whose whiskers are much shorter than those of the former. The locust has a more powerful mouth apparatus, and the ability to mass reproduction and migration, her females do not have an ovipositor.
Grasshoppers feel great not only in the steppes, but also in wet tropical forests, tundra, mountains and deserts.
8. Grasshoppers are eaten by lizards, amphibians, meerkats, rodents, birds and even more. large species grasshoppers (for example, dybki), which is why they have to resort to the help of mimicry and protective coloration.
If you catch a grasshopper - efippigera, then it begins to release drops of blood from the joints. And the North African efgaster accurately shoots a stream of blood from the joints in the direction of the enemy. Some species, in case of danger, emit a liquid with an unpleasant odor.
In grasshoppers, males are extremely rare. Their females reproduce by parthenogenesis - laying unfertilized eggs.
All grasshoppers have whiskers longer than their bodies.
Grasshoppers live only a few weeks. Grasshopper larvae are born from the soil or from under the bark of a tree. They have to get out of the soil with great difficulty, since they move only in a strictly straight line, and if a stone is encountered on the way, the larva will not reach the surface. Only 10 percent of the larvae get out of the depths and continue to live.

Grasshoppers are the oldest insects on Earth. Since their appearance, they have not changed at all. However, we still know very little about their lives.

Grasshoppers: external structure, lifestyle and behavior

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The grasshopper is an insect that belongs to the suborder Caelifera. In addition to crickets and locusts, it also includes horned grasshoppers. Among the most interesting facts about grasshoppers, several important findings about these insects come to the fore. This article talks about their diet, behavior, reproduction and distribution.

There are about 8,000 species of grasshoppers in the world. Among them, there are three main species such as long-horned, short-horned, and pygmy. Locust is another type of grasshopper.

Some species are distinguished by their color, behavior and large numbers, they are known as locusts. These insects have antennae that are relatively short compared to their body. With the help of powerful jaws, grasshoppers bite off their food. Powerful and long hind thighs are great for jumping. They are greyish-brown in color, often with a reddish-brown tint.

Data on grasshoppers show that these insects are found almost everywhere in the world, except in extremely cold regions.

Appearance of insects

These insects do not have ears, but they can certainly hear. The organ called eardrum contributes to their hearing. One of unique facts about grasshoppers is that the eardrum is located in abdominal cavity and often looks like a huge round disk.

Grasshoppers are easily confused with crickets belonging to the same family, but they have many distinctive features. For example, there is a clear difference in the number of antennal segments, the structure of the ovipositor and the way sounds are produced, as well as in the position of the cymbals. Unlike crickets, grasshoppers have 20 to 24 antennae segments.

The nervous system of a grasshopper consists of nerve cells freely located in the body. They are called ganglia. These cells tend to exist in almost all species. All ganglia are connected to the center - the brain.

Grasshoppers have two huge eyes on the top of their heads. These are compound eyes. They consist of thousands of little eyes that receive information and send it to the brain.

Although they have wings, they are not usually used for actual flight. Males are relatively shorter than females with large ovipositors. Two pairs of flaps are attached to the female's abdomen and are actually used for burrowing while laying eggs.

These animals can also change their color depending on the environment. This is especially necessary to get rid of potential predators such as frogs. Most of these species hide well in green fields and forests.

Magnificent Jumpers

Grasshoppers are also known to jump up to 20 times their length.

The weight of these species is 2-3 grams, but they can push off the ground with their feet with a force of about 30 grams. This is due to the muscles in the legs. All movements (contraction and relaxation) must be done quickly, otherwise he will not be able to fly high.

What do grasshoppers sing about

Do you know they sing late at night? If you do not sleep all night, and suddenly you hear a chirping in complete darkness, this is the grasshoppers singing. They do not sing for us, and their sole purpose is to attract females for mating.

What do grasshoppers eat

Grasshoppers are herbivorous species, and they mainly feed on a variety of plants during the day - grass and crops. They have a large number of squirrel. Eating everything: leaves, stems, roots. These insects usually limit their diet to a few plants. Some species of these insects can eat tapeworms, so you need to handle them with caution.

As everyone knows, LJ hosts various kinds of flash mobs, of which I recognize only those that provide food for thought and serve the noble cause of knowledge. :-) That's why I took part in a flash mob about photos from enotikova and oumnique , whose rules are as follows:
1. You leave a comment on this entry.
2. I choose any photo or picture in your LiveJournal and ask you to tell me something interesting and informative about it.
3. You post a story with a photo in the comments and / or your LiveJournal with the publication of the game conditions so that your friends can also play.

Today is a story about the photo I chose enotikova :

I must say that I am a complete layman in entomology, so I wanted to give a thrashing to my husband, who likes to photograph all kinds of boogers and thereby brings me to the monastery. :-)))

It should also be noted that a year ago I confused grasshoppers with other creatures - fillies:

Now actually about the grasshoppers. :-) First, a little background about them:

The green grasshopper (Tettigonia viridissima) is distributed almost throughout Russia, it can be found in all landscape zones, it does not go only to the north. In the forest zone, starting from the end of July and up to late autumn, green grasshopper often found along the edges of meadows in the grass, and on the edges of forests and in gardens - on bushes and trees, skillfully disguised in green foliage. In deserts, it tends to river valleys and the edges of tugai forests; in Central Asia penetrates high into the mountains, adhering to gorges with lush grassy vegetation. It feeds on small insects - various Diptera, small butterflies, their caterpillars, etc.

The chirping of a green grasshopper can be heard during the day, in the afternoon and in the evening, it does not stop even in the dark until 2-3 o'clock in the morning. In the morning, the green grasshopper takes a "sunbath". He lies on his side, exposing his body to falling on him. sunbeams and occasionally flipping over to the other side.

Mating in a green grasshopper lasts about 45 minutes. After 15 minutes, the male begins to chirp again. Eating a spermatophore by a female can last 15 hours. She lays her eggs one at a time in the ground, placing them so closely that they are glued to each other in 2, 3 or 4. The process of laying eggs, apparently, is rather difficult, as can be judged by the fact that the female is impulsively breathes, and the number of eggs laid by it reaches 70-100. The eggs lie in the soil until spring, when larvae begin to hatch from them. They are also green with a brown or blackish stripe on the dorsal side.
http://www.floranimal.ru/pages/animal/k/2851.html

The heavy breathing of the female impressed me so much that I looked for something else on this topic and I give a couple more quotes.

reproductive system. The reproductive system of insects consists of testes in males and ovaries in females, pathways connecting these organs with the genital opening near the anus, as well as adnexal glands and structures that ensure fertilization. The external genital organs are very diverse in structure, but in most insects the female ovipositor is a simple tube. In males, the copulatory organ (penis) and genital opening are usually complex and are surrounded by claw-like grips that hold the bodies of partners together during mating. In many orders of insects, the features of the external genitalia, primarily of the male, are among important classification features.
http://www.bigpi.biysk.ru/encicl/articles/02/1000224/1000224A.htm

Here is a female grasshopper with a long ovipositor:

During mating, the male suspends a spermatophore from the end of the female's abdomen. The spermatophore consists of a flask (the main part) and a spermatophylax (an additional part). The bottle is coated, has a narrow neck and two reinforcing blades. The inner cavity of the vial, which contains spermatozoa, is divided into two parts by a partition. Spermatophylax is a sticky mass.

The male inserts the neck of the flask into the female genital opening, while the flask itself and the spermatophylax remain outside. After mating, the female usually slowly eats the spermatophylax, while the sperm gradually flows from the vial into the oviduct, after which the female also eats the vial. A spermatophore suspended from the female's abdomen with spermatophylax weighing it down makes it difficult for the female to move and interferes with oviposition and re-mating. In this case, eating should be slow, otherwise the sperm will not have time to flow from the vial into the oviduct.

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Who are grasshoppers? In this article, you will learn: what types of grasshoppers exist in nature and you can see them in the photo.

According to scientific classification, grasshoppers are considered to be an extensive group of insects belonging to the order Orthoptera. In total, on our planet, researchers have counted more than 6800 species of these jumping creatures. The closest relatives of grasshoppers are crickets, as well as locusts. In size, grasshoppers grow, as a rule, small. Average length the body of this insect is from 2 to 4 centimeters. However, some species found in tropical zones, can grow up to 10 centimeters. These creatures are characterized by an elongated body, an oval-shaped head.

The hind limbs of the insect are long, they are much longer than the front ones. This feature of the structure of the “legs” allows the grasshopper to be a wonderful jumper. But not only the legs of a grasshopper differ in length, the insect also has antennae that grow, sometimes, several times over size the whole body (meaning - in length).

Grasshoppers have thin wings, they are “covered” from above with more rigid elytra. Nature has given some species a wonderful camouflage color, and some grasshoppers even imitate environment. For example, grasshoppers have such wings that in appearance can never be distinguished from a leaf. In addition, there are separate species of these insects, which have a flat semi-oval outgrowth in the upper part of the body, which perfectly masks against the background of foliage, such grasshoppers are called hooded.

The color of these insects can be very different: green, brown, gray and even black. There are also bright shades in the color of these creatures, for example, pink color, although such individuals are very rare in nature.

Grasshoppers settled all over the planet, they do not live only on ice continent(Antarctica), and also do not climb deep into the vast deserts. For comfortable living grasshoppers choose places in meadows, forest edges, rainforests, steppes, and also in savannahs. Some species live in alpine meadows and even in mountainous areas. Their activity is manifested both during the day and at night, it all depends on the specific species.

Grasshoppers are one of the most vociferous insects on Earth, their chirring is especially audible at sunset. If there is a clearing or meadow near you, then go out to it when the sun starts to set, and you will hear the funny “trills” of these unusually sonorous insects.

Listen to the grasshopper's voice

Grasshoppers are very cautious insects, any rustle or vibration in the grass can drive them away. Grasshoppers are helped to avoid danger by their bouncy legs, thanks to their unique structure, the insect can jump 1-2 meters in length! Some species jump up and fly through the air for a short time using their wings, thus increasing the chances of escaping. Some species can take defensive postures, for example, this concerns the spike-headed grasshopper, which, in case of danger, makes a fighting stance.

Reproduction in grasshoppers is carried out by laying eggs by the female. Some species fix their egg laying in the foliage, other grasshoppers lay their future offspring directly into the plant tissue or the thickness of the soil.

Enemies of grasshoppers in nature are many animals, these include: toads, meerkats, small rodents, lizards, birds (storks,