Approach slowly to get a close look at this wild creature!
This bright colored grasshopper is hard to miss. The eastern lubber grasshopper is an interesting creature that can grow to ~2.5” long. They can be found throughout the southeastern United States (North and South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas). This photo was taken near Big Cypress National Preserve in Florida. I took this at Clyde Butcher’s Photography Gallery (Click here to check out more from this recent trip). So, what is a “lubber”? “Lubber” is an old English word that means lazy and clumsy. The definition fits this grasshopper well. It moves slowly and is one of the few species of grasshoppers that can be easily approached for a photo. Eastern lubbers might jump away, if approached quickly. However, they are large grasshoppers that cannot jump far, and they cannot fly. So, as long as you approach this grasshopper slowly you will be able to get a close look at this wild creature.
Let’s talk about the basic anatomy of a grasshopper. The body of the eastern lubber is broken into the head, the thorax, and the abdomen. The head has two small filiform antenna that are used as feelers. What is a filiform antenna? Filiform antennae are long, thin, and threadlike in shape. Grasshoppers may also have ensiform antennae (big at base and narrowing towards the tip), or clavate antennae (narrow at the base and larger towards the tip). Grasshoppers generally have walking legs and jumping legs. Eastern lubber grasshoppers have compound eyes. This means their eyeball is made up of small visual elements that help the grasshopper look in different directions. This allows the grasshopper to see all around itself without having to rotate its head.
So, what makes these grasshoppers unique? If an eastern lubber grasshopper is approached quickly and becomes startled, it will spread its wings and release a defensive smell. Using its respiratory system, this grasshopper can spray a fine mist of toxic chemicals to ward off predators. The smell is secreted from the grasshopper’s spiracles, which are openings in the body, usually on the bottom of the abdomen. These holes can be opened or closed by special muscles around the spiracles. The grasshopper’s bright color is an advertisement to the natural world, letting would be predators know it’s not worth attacking. This phenomenon is called aposematism.
Eastern Lubber Grasshoppers can release a defensive smell
Did You Know?
If humans could jump as far as grasshoppers do, relative to their size, we would jump the length of a football field!
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