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Sticker of Green milkweed locust
Bug card No. 0679 of 1,500

Green milkweed locust

Phymateus viridipes
Eats: PlantsGrasshoppers and cricketsGardens and meadows6 legs

The green milkweed locust is a big green grasshopper from Africa with a bumpy, spiky back. When it opens its wings, it flashes bright red and blue. It eats poisonous plants, and that makes it taste horrible to birds.

Lives in
Africa, on trees and bushes
Length
7 cm (2.8 in)
Top speed
about 12 km/h (7.5 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
It does not bite or sting people, but it can let out a nasty liquid when scared. Look, do not touch, and never put it in your mouth.
What does it eat?
It eats plants, even very poisonous ones. Its babies eat lots of different plants.
For real!Photo of Green milkweed locust
Picture by Androstachys. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Green milkweed locust about 7 cm long (2.8 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)A banana about 18 cm (7.1 in)
as long as 2 toy building bricks in a rowcould run across a dinner table in 0.3 secondsmoves 48 times its own body length every second

How big is Green milkweed locust compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

If something bothers it, it lifts and rustles its wings and may squirt a yucky liquid from its body.

2

Its babies are bright yellow and black and stay together in big groups.

3

Many of them sit together on trees and bushes, arranged so they look just like leaves.

4

It can make long flights, travelling far from home.

5

The spikes on its back often have red tips.

you asked

Most asked questions about Green milkweed locust

?Is the green milkweed locust poisonous?

It eats poisonous plants and can squirt a nasty liquid, so it is best not to touch it and never to eat it.

?How big is the green milkweed locust?

About 7 centimetres long when grown up.

?Why does it have red and blue wings?

The bright colours flash when it flies or opens its wings, warning hungry animals to stay away.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Phymateus viridipes
Named by
Stål, 1873
Group
Grasshoppers and crickets
Family
Pyrgomorphidae
Classification
Insecta > Orthoptera > Pyrgomorphidae
Lives on
Africa
Also known as
African bush grasshopper

Where the facts come from

  1. Phymateus viridipes (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Androstachys. Public domain, 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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