Aularches miliaris
| Aularches miliaris | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Scientific classification | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Orthoptera |
| Family: | Pyrgomorphidae |
| Genus: | Aularches |
| Species: | A. miliaris |
| Binomial name | |
| Aularches miliaris (Linnaeus, 1758) | |
| Synonyms | |
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Aularches miliaris is a colorful grasshopper belonging to the family Pyrgomorphidae found in South and Southeast Asia.[1] The bright warning colours keep away predators and their defence when disturbed includes the ejection of a toxic foam.[2]
The insect has been called by a variety of names including Coffee locust, Ghost Grasshopper, Northern Spotted Grasshopper, or Foam Grasshopper and enjoys some popularity as a pet insect.
Description
The head and thorax are dark green with a canary-yellow band on the side. The tegmina are green with many yellow spots; the legs are blue, with a yellow serrated pattern on the hind femora. The abdomen is black with bright red bands.[2] Two subspecies have been designated, the nominate and pseudopunctatus.
Habits
It swarms in October, the mating and egg-laying season, collecting on bushes and grasses. It is heavy and sluggish, able to make only short leaps, very visible on vegetation.[2] Outbreaks leading to their damage to cultivated crops are uncommon.[3]
When A. miliaris (of either sex) is disturbed or grabbed, it emits a sharp rasping noise from its thoracic segments. If its thorax is pinched, it also squirts a clear viscous mucus with unpleasant smell and a bitter taste, faintly alkaline, with many embedded bubbles. This foam comes out as a strong jet from apertures in the thorax, and more gently from other openings in the body (ten in total); it heaps up around the insect and partly covers it.[2]
References
- ↑ (2013) Aularches miliaris miliaris (Linnaeus, 1758) from Orthoptera Species File (OSF) Online. Accessed on 2013-01-29.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Hingston, RWG (1927). "The liquid-squirting habit of oriental grasshoppers". Transactions of the Entomological Society of London 75: 65–69. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2311.1927.tb00060.x.
- ↑ Jones, S (1940). "A Visitation of the Spotted Locust (Aularches miliaris L.) in Travancore.". Journal of the Bombay Natural History Society 41 (3): 676–678.
External links
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