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✎ Camila Espinosa

✎ Camila Espinosa

✎ Diego Aguilera

Gigant Grasshopper
Tropidacris cristataPacific region

  • Generalities
  • Morpho-functionality
  • Lifecycle
  • Distribution

RECORRIDO VIRTUAL POR LA BIODIVERSIDAD DE COLOMBIA
Museo de Historia Natural
Universidad Nacional de Colombia

Gigant Grasshopper
Tropidacris cristata

The genus Tropidacris contains the largest insects among the world's grasshoppers and they inhabit only the Neotropics, being abundant and widely distributed in various habitats. They feed mainly on leaves and fruits of a great variety of plants. These grasshoppers reach a wingspan of 24 cm and their populations are being evaluated because climate change could transform them in a pest in the continent.

Conservation status

Extinct

Extinct in the Wild

Critically Endangered

Endangered

Vulnerable

Near Threatened

Least Concern

Not Evaluated

Data Deficient

Morpho-functionality

Mouth

Its oral apparatus has chewing mouth parts and compared to any vertebrate’s is much more complex due to its large number of parts. This allows the insect to devour leaves at a very rapid rate.

Hind legs

It manages its jump through a complex internal muscle system attached to an internal tendon that pulls a distal structure similar to an arch; when muscles contract the arch is bent and when released it frees a large amount of energy pushing out the tibia violently.

Hearing

Their hearing system is made up of an eardrum that is located in its abdominal area.

Lifecycle

In this species the sexual dimorphism is marked, the female being larger than the male. Little is known about its life cycle. It is estimated that its cycle lasts one year and that there is overlap of generations, that is, adults and juveniles are together. Females deposit a single egg sac in moist soil to a depth of 60 mm. Each sac contains 40 to 100 eggs. By having an incomplete metamorphosis, the nymphs will grow with each molt and the progressive development of their wings can be observed. They live in groups and have a warning yellow and black coloration as they appear to be toxic.

Gigant Grasshopper

Distribution

This species of giant Neotropical grasshopper has a wide distribution ranging from southeastern Mexico to half of Argentina, including the west of the Colombian and Ecuadorian coasts and some Caribbean islands. It inhabits dense formations of trees and shrubs to humid forests in the Guyana-Amazon region and slightly drier regions in Bolivia, Paraguay and Argentina.

Distribution area