Differential Grasshopper

Fascinating facts about the Differential Grasshopper

• The species produces a single generation each year, with each adult female capable of depositing up to six egg masses in soft soil. Every mass may contain anywhere from 40 to 200 eggs, which begin developing in the summer of laying before entering a winter diapause. The dormant eggs resume development and hatch over about two weeks in early summer of the following year, after which the emerging nymphs require roughly 32 days to mature into winged adults.
• Differential grasshoppers are polyphagous, feeding on both grasses and forbs, though laboratory tests show faster growth when their diet consists mainly of forbs. They show a strong preference for giant ragweed, common sunflower and prickly lettuce, plants that provide optimal nutrition. Adults possess the ability to sense a chemical change in wilted lettuce and sunflowers, causing them to steer clear of decaying foliage.
• When differential grasshoppers gather in a single swarm they can strip a field of its yield in only a few days, leaving the crop completely devastated. The young insects start the damage by feeding on grains, alfalfa and hay, while the adults move on to corn, cotton and deciduous fruit crops. Because they habitually feed in such large numbers, they pose a serious threat to farming across most of their range.
• In the northern part of its distribution the differential grasshopper occurs in roughly the same numbers as the two-striped grasshopper, but moving south its populations become far larger than that species. The insect is found throughout most of the United States, except the northwest, and prefers heavily weeded grasslands, vacant lots and other urban habitats.

Sources

Every fact above was checked against these pages, and kept only where one of them states it.

• Wikipedia

At a glance

About the Differential Grasshopper

In the sun-drenched meadows of North America, the Differential Grasshopper weaves a mesmerizing dance, its slender body a blur of motion as it launches itself into effortless leaps, propelled by powerful hind legs that unfold like tiny catapults. With each bound, the grasshopper traverses vast expanses of its domain, a realm of tall grasses and wildflowers that sway gently in the breeze, providing an ever-changing tapestry of hiding places and lookout points for this agile and resourceful insect. As it moves, the Differential Grasshopper's mottled brown and green hues blend seamlessly into the surroundings, rendering it all but invisible, a master of stealth and deception in its native habitat.

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