Page 45 - World of Animals - Issue #30
P. 45

Leaping legends



                                    Large marsh

              LARGE MARSH
              GRASSHOPPER
              Stethophyma grossum   grasshopper
              Class Insecta

                                    Britain’s largest grasshopper species

              Territory Europe      Easily distinguishable by its typically bright
              Diet Grasses          green-yellow colouring, the female large marsh
              Lifespan Unknown      grasshopper can grow up to 36 millimetres
              Adult weight Unknown
              Conservation status   (1.4 inches) in length. The slightly smaller male
                                    compensates for his size by making himself
                                    heard. Tapping the tip of its forewing with a hind
              NOT EVALUATED         tibia, the male produces a distinctive pattern of
                                    eight ticks every three to four seconds.











































          Blue-winged grasshopper

          The grasshopper that baffles by becoming a butterfly
          When the blue-winged grasshopper   the direction it has come from and
          senses danger, it leaps into the   if that wasn’t confusing enough for
          air with impeccable timing and   a predator, the colouring vanishes
          its hindwings flash a brilliant blue,   from view when the grasshopper
          making it appear very much like a   comes to rest. This is a useful
          butterfly. But the magic really takes   defence mechanism for an insect
          place when it lands. As it touches   that is otherwise vulnerable, due to
          the ground in what is called a hook   being commonly found in flat and
          landing, it swings around to face   open land.
         “When it senses danger, it leaps into                           RIGHT
                                                                         A blue-winged
          the air with impeccable timing and                             grasshopper
                                                                         gliding through
                                                                         the air, displaying
          its hindwings flash a brilliant blue”                           its amazing
                                                                         colouring

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   042-047_Grasshoppers.indd   45                                                                                        03/02/2016   15:09
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