Chris Connolly Photography

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  • “This bright pink grasshopper is enough to make anyone jump” – and I didn’t find it in the jungles of Borneo or Brazil but in Thomastown, County Kilkenny. When I first found ‘Mr. Pink’, I contacted the Irish Wildlife Trust straight away, thinking that my name would go down in the annals of Irish wildlife history but unfortunately for me, I was informed that it is not a rare species but it is a very unusual colour, which makes it a very rare, interesting and strange find. It’s colour, in terms of percentage in normal Meadow Grasshoppers is less than one percent. Most grasshopper species in Ireland are greenish-brown in colour, but some have genetics that can make them pink or purple-red. It is called erythrism, which is an unusual and little-understood genetic mutation caused by a recessive gene similar to that which affects albino animals. The combination of red hair and freckles in humans is thought to be a form of erythrism, too. These grasshoppers tend not to make it to adulthood or survive for long in the wild as predators easily spot them, so it was a treat for me to see and photograph a grasshopper as beautiful as this one. I suppose if it were found in a field of pink flowers, ‘Mr. Pink’ would have a distinct advantage, so there you go.
    Pink Grasshopper-1.jpg
  • Grasshoppers jump by catapulting themselves into the air. If humans could jump the way grasshoppers do, we could easily leap the length of a football field or more. How do they jump so far? It’s all in those big back legs. A grasshopper’s hind legs function like miniature catapults. When it wants to jump, the grasshopper contracts its large flexor muscles slowly, bending its hind leg at the knee joint. A special piece of cuticle within the knee acts as a spring, storing up all that potential energy. When the grasshopper is ready to jump, it relaxes the leg muscles, allowing the spring to release its energy and catapulting its body into the air. Grasshoppers can also fly. Because grasshoppers have such powerful jumping legs, people sometimes just don’t realize that they have wings, too! Most grasshoppers are pretty strong fliers, and will make good use of their wings to escape predators. Their jumping ability just gives them a boost into the air. Grasshoppers have ears in their bellies. The auditory organs are in an unusual location – on their abdomens. On each side of the first abdominal segment, tucked under the wings, you’ll find membranes that vibrate in response to sound waves. This simple eardrum allows the grasshopper to hear the songs of its fellow grasshoppers.
    Grasshopper-1.jpg
  • Large and impressive the Egyptian Grasshopper is a common species around the Mediterranean. Adult female Egyptian grasshoppers can reach a length of 65mm. In fact, they are so large, when in flight; they can often be mistaken for a bird. The male is smaller, growing to around 35mm. The antennae of both sexes are relatively short and robust. The spiny projections on the underside of the legs help the insect to cling to vertical surfaces. The adults are generally grey, brown or olive coloured with variable patterns that allows them to camouflage themselves against tree bark and other vegetation and when they catch sight of you they will move slowly to the opposite side of their ‘perch’, hoping to avoid detection. This grasshopper is vegetarian, essentially feeding on leaves. It is a solitary species and not harmful to crops. They can be told apart from other grasshoppers by the diagnostic vertical striped pattern in their eyes, which is visible at all growth stages. Eggs are laid in the spring just under the soil surface. The young grasshoppers are tiny when they first emerge as nymphs and can be found in a variety of colours including bright green and even a pale orange. It is occasionally found in Britain, having been imported on trucks laden with vegetables and plants.
    Egyptian Grasshopper 3 (Anacridium A...jpg
  • Grasshoppers existed long before dinosaurs. The ancestors of our modern day grasshoppers evolved well over 200 million years ago, during the Triassic period, when the first reptiles appeared on earth. The fossil record shows that primitive grasshoppers first appeared during the carboniferous period, more than 300 million years ago. Most ancient grasshoppers are preserved as fossils, although grasshopper nymphs are occasionally found in amber. Grasshoppers cause billions of dollars in damage to food crops worldwide, annually. A lone grasshopper doesn’t do much harm, although it eats about half it’s body weight in plants every day. When they swarm, their combined feeding habits can completely defoliate a landscape, leaving farmers without crops and people without food. In the United States alone, grasshoppers cause about $1.5 billion in damage to grazing lands each year. Grasshoppers sometimes “spit” brown liquid in order to defend themselves. If you’ve handled enough grasshoppers in your day, you’ve probably had a few spit brown liquid on you in protest. Scientists believe this behavior is a means of self-defence, and that the liquid helps them repel predators. Some people say that
    Marsh Grasshopper-1.jpg
  • Large and impressive the Egyptian Grasshopper is a common species around the Mediterranean. Adult female Egyptian grasshoppers can reach a length of 65mm. In fact, they are so large, when in flight; they can often be mistaken for a bird. The male is smaller, growing to around 35mm. The antennae of both sexes are relatively short and robust. The spiny projections on the underside of the legs help the insect to cling to vertical surfaces. The adults are generally grey, brown or olive coloured with variable patterns that allows them to camouflage themselves against tree bark and other vegetation and when they catch sight of you they will move slowly to the opposite side of their ‘perch’, hoping to avoid detection. This grasshopper is vegetarian, essentially feeding on leaves. It is a solitary species and not harmful to crops. They can be told apart from other grasshoppers by the diagnostic vertical striped pattern in their eyes, which is visible at all growth stages. Eggs are laid in the spring just under the soil surface. The young grasshoppers are tiny when they first emerge as nymphs and can be found in a variety of colours including bright green and even a pale orange. It is occasionally found in Britain, having been imported on trucks laden with vegetables and plants.
    Egyptian Grasshopper.jpg
  • Grasshoppers provide an important source of protein to people in many parts of the world. From what I've heard, grasshoppers are delicious. People have eaten locusts and grasshoppers for centuries. It is recorded in the Bible that John the Baptist ate locusts and wild honey while he was living in the wilderness. In many areas of Africa, Asia, and the Americas, locusts and grasshoppers are a regular ingredient of the local diet. Chapulines, or grasshoppers, are delicious when wrapped in a corn tortilla and drenched in chile sauce, or on their own as a quick snack. They are very popular in Oaxaca, Mexico where they are consumed on a daily basis. Chapulines are very high in protein yet very low in fat and have a wonderful crunchy texture when cooked properly. Grasshoppers are served on skewers in some Chinese food markets. Fried grasshoppers (Walang Goreng) are eaten in Java and Indonesia. In the Arab world, they are boiled, salted, sun-dried, and eaten as snacks. In Native America, the Ohlone people burned grassland to herd grasshoppers into pits where they could be collected as food. However, it will be difficult for ‘entomophagy’ (the fancy name for eating insects) to catch on in the Western world where the practice is unsurprisingly viewed with disgust. It will be quite some time before Gordon Ramsey and Jamie Oliver start to make grasshopper pizza or dung beetle lasagna
    Grasshopper-2.jpg
  • The Blue-Winged Grasshopper is a heat and drought-loving grasshopper that can be found in of sparse vegetation and barren and sandy areas such as quarries, gravel pits, industrial terrain & the ballast of railway tracks. This species has the ability to perfectly blend in with its surrounding habitat thanks to its morphological camouflage. The base colour varies considerably but you will always find red (to blend in with the soil), blue/white (to blend in with rocks) and almost black animals with a pronounced pattern of dark bands and speckled spots on the bodies. This ability is extremely beneficial for survival as it helps to avoid becoming prey by wandering aerial predators. While they are excellent fliers and very mobile, they usually only fly (reluctantly) when disturbed. The adult animals can be found from mid-June to October. The eggs are laid in open sandy-gritty soil and hatch in late May to early June. It can be found anywhere from Spain to southern Scandinavia and even as far afield as western Russia.
    Blue-Winged Grasshopper-1.jpg
  • Saussure's Grasshopper-1.jpg
  • The Sickle-Bearing Bush Cricket can be found in most of Europe and as far eastwards as Japan, including all central Asia. It is a medium size (35mm) grasshopper with a pale green body covered with black spots and can be seen in dry locations: calcareous meadows, fallow lands, bushes and moorlands from July to October. It can be identified by its wings, which are much longer than the elytra (wing cases). The length of the antenna can reach four times the length of the body. The female's abdomen ends with a sharply upturned ovipositor. The Sickle-bearing Bush-cricket mainly feeds on plants and the female lay the eggs on the shrub's leaves, particularly on Blackthorn. The Sickle-bearing Bush-cricket can fly a relatively long distance when frightened. Although, not native to the British Isles, in 2006 a breeding colony was discovered during entomological survey work in Hastings Country Park Nature Reserve in East Sussex. This is the first confirmed breeding record of the species in Britain as adults and nymphs were recorded. Although it was also recorded in Cornwall over 100 years ago this may have been an occasional migrant but it seems that this continental species may be increasing its range.
    Angry Grasshopper.jpg
  • This is one of our more exotic looking spiders. It's a native spider of Mediterranean areas, and has only recently colonized England. Despite the warning colouration this is not a dangerous species. The wasp-like appearance is probably defensive, to deter predators. The Wasp Spider builds its web close to the ground in order to catch grasshoppers and crickets. The female can often be seen hanging upside-down in the middle of her web throughout summer and autumn. The web features a distinctive zigzag patterned section running vertically through it. The large abdomen features yellow, black and white stripes, and the cephalothorax is covered with silver coloured hair. When viewed from underneath you can see two yellow stripes running lengthways along the abdomen. The female Wasp Spider creates one of the largest egg sacs of any of the spiders found in Britain. It is flask shaped, brown in colour and about 25mm across. She fills it with eggs and then seals the top with more silk. The male is much smaller, and is only active for a couple of weeks in July. Like many other male spiders, he has to be careful when mating, to ensure he doesn't end up as dinner for the female.
    Wasp Spider.jpg
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