Egyptian grasshopper
The Egyptian grasshopper is one of the biggest grasshoppers in Europe. It is grey, brown or olive, with blue and orange back legs. Look at its eyes: they have black and white stripes going up and down, like tiny zebras.
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Fun facts
Females can grow up to 7 centimetres long, bigger than the males.
It has an orange stripe along its back and small white spots.
It spends the winter as a grown-up and lays its eggs just under the soil in spring.
The babies are yellow, bright green or ochre, and their wings grow a little bigger each time they shed their skin.
Most are seen in August and September, but they are active all year.
Most asked questions about Egyptian grasshopper
?Is the Egyptian grasshopper dangerous?
No. It is harmless to people and does not damage crops.
?How big is the Egyptian grasshopper?
Males are 3 to 5.6 centimetres long and females 4.6 to 7 centimetres.
?Why does the Egyptian grasshopper have striped eyes?
Its eyes just have vertical black and white stripes, which makes it very easy to recognise.
Myth buster
Myth: The Egyptian locust swarms and destroys crops.
Truth: No. Even though it is sometimes called a locust, it lives alone and does not harm crops.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Anacridium aegyptium
- Group
- Grasshoppers and crickets
- Family
- Acrididae
- Classification
- Insecta > Orthoptera > Acrididae
- Lives on
- Europe, Africa, Asia
- Also known as
- Egyptian locust
Where the facts come from
- Anacridium aegyptium (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Charles J. Sharp. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.
If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.
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