G for Grasshopper

Fun Facts:

1) Grasshoppers, along with crickets and Katydids belong to the order Orthoptera, meaning straight wings.

2) Grasshoppers produce sounds to attract mates or protect their territories. And just like fireflies use different flash codes to distinguish between species, different grasshopper species produce different sounds (songs).

3) Depending on the species, grasshoppers produce their sound by stridulation or by crepitation. Stridulation is the rubbing of one body part on another. Grasshoppers stridulate by rubbing a row of pegs located along the inside of the hind legs rubs against a thickened area of the forewing which produces an audible vibration. Other species use a different method of sound production called crepitation. These grasshoppers snap their hindwings during flight to create a distinct buzzing sound like plucking a taut rubberband.

4) The females of few Orthoptera may make a few soft sounds, but most of the singing is done by the males.

5) Grasshoppers hear sounds with an organ called the tympanum. The tympanum is a thin membrane in the form of a disk, located on the side of the abdomen. It monitors the air for sound waves.

6) Locusts are grasshoppers in the family Acrididae. The term locust is used for grasshoppers that change morphologically and behaviorally in response to overcrowding. This change also triggers swarming and migratory behaviors but there is no taxonomic difference between locust and grasshopper species.

7) Locust swarms can vary from less than one square kilometer to several hundred square kilometers with 40 to 80 million individuals per square kilometer. An adult locust can consume its own weight (about 2 grams) in fresh food per day. For every million locusts, one ton of food is eaten. Plagues of locusts appear in both the Bible and the Quran. Swarms can travel 5-130 km or more in a day (source: Wikipedia)

You can find some great examples of grasshopper stridulation on youtube

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I'm sorry if this post seems a bit rushed, I have a good excuse. My in-laws are coming over in a few hours to spend the weekend with us and my house is a Feng Shui nightmare. Toys carpet our living room, my kids art projects are still drying on the floor, I've got piles of books, papers and the most random items sprinkled everywhere. For example, on my desk in front of the computer I have paper, pens, a couple books, a Scooby-Doo dvd, 2 rolls of electrical tape, and Kermit the frog. Which reminds me of the game "What's your superhero name?" Basically it's the color of your shirt + the object to your right. So right now, I would be called The Black Frog. Well I hope Black Frog has some serious super cleaning powers, or a flamethrower.