Bug Wiki
Bug Wiki / All bugs / Grasshoppers and crickets
Sticker of Koppie foam grasshopper
Bug card No. 0814 of 1,500

Koppie foam grasshopper

Dictyophorus spumans
Name means: “it can blow a poisonous foam out of its body”
Eats: PlantsGrasshoppers and cricketsDeserts and dry places6 legs

The koppie foam grasshopper is a big, chunky grasshopper with bright, bold colours. When it is in danger, it makes a bubbly foam that tastes terrible. Its bright colours warn birds and lizards: do not eat me.

Lives in
Southern Africa, including South Africa, Zimbabwe and Mozambique
Length
4.5 to 7 cm (1.8 to 2.8 in)
females are bigger than males
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 its foam is poisonous. Do not touch it or put it near your mouth, and wash your hands if you do.
What does it eat?
It eats plants, including poisonous ones like milkweed. It keeps their poison in its own body to protect itself.
For real!Photo of Koppie foam grasshopper
Picture by Charles J. Sharp. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Koppie foam grasshopper 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 Koppie foam grasshopper compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

The foam is made from its blood mixed with air pushed out of the little breathing holes on its body.

2

Some very big females grow to 8 centimetres long.

3

The shield behind its head is covered in little warts.

4

Its colours can be very different from one grasshopper to the next, but there is always something bright on it.

you asked

Most asked questions about Koppie foam grasshopper

?Is the foam grasshopper poisonous?

Yes. It stores poison from the plants it eats, so animals should not eat it. It is safe to look at.

?Why does the foam grasshopper make foam?

To scare off and poison animals that want to eat it.

?How big is the koppie foam grasshopper?

Males are about 5 centimetres long and females 5 to 7 centimetres.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Dictyophorus spumans
Group
Grasshoppers and crickets
Family
Pyrgomorphidae
Classification
Insecta > Orthoptera > Pyrgomorphidae
Lives on
Africa
Also known as
Rooibaadjie, African foam grasshopper, Foaming grasshopper

Where the facts come from

  1. Dictyophorus spumans (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 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.

More from the same group: Grasshoppers and crickets

Desert locustGrasshoppers and cricketsHouse cricketGrasshoppers and cricketsParktown prawnGrasshoppers and cricketsEastern lubber grasshopperGrasshoppers and cricketsAustralian plague locustGrasshoppers and cricketsMormon cricketGrasshoppers and crickets

Also at home here: Deserts and dry places

Maricopa harvester antAntsPlain tigerButterfliesTiger centipedeCentipedes and millipedesArctic woolly bear mothMothsEumillipesCentipedes and millipedesDesert blonde tarantulaSpiders