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Acrididae
Giant Green Slantface
Creek Grasshopper
Common Adreppus
BarkmimickingGrasshopper 
Gumleaf Grasshopper
Slender Gumleaf MimeticGumlefGhopper
Common Pardillana
Wingless Grasshopper
Handsome Macrotona
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Grasshoppers - Family ACRIDIDAE

Member in this family are commonly called grasshoppers. All of them have large hind legs for jumping. They have short antennae and short ovipositor. 
 
"Hi, welcome to have a closer look on Grasshoppers." 

Members in this family usually have their wings well developed. Usually they are in camouflage colours but some of them are brightly coloured. 
 
Males sing during day by rubbing legs against sides of their forewings. Some species include a visual display of bright colours on legs or wings. Females oviposit egg masses protected by a foamy substance, under the ground or in plants. Most of them have an annual life cycle. 
 
Grasshopper nymph, body length 15mm
 
Most species feed on grass. Some species feed on other vegetation including leaves, stems. Some even feed on dead eucalyptus leaves.  Some species, under some conditions, will migrate in a dense swarms form, known as locusts, bring large damage to the crop.
 
We found quite a number of different species in this family. They are grouped in four subfamilies and listed as follows;
 

Subfamily Acridinae - Slant-faced and Band-winged Grasshoppers

Yellow-winged Locust
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Photo: Keith Power, Toowoomba
Gastrimargus musicus, subfamily Acridinae, body length 30mm
Yellow-winged Locusts are easily found in Brisbane grassland. They prefer grasses of medium height. When in flight, they show their back-banded yellow hind wings with loud clicking noise. There are the red marking on their hind legs. This species has green and brown forms. The second pictures was taken in Karawatha Forest during early winter. A lot of them were found there at that time.
 
 
Caledia
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Caledia captiva, body length 25mm
We took the above pictures in Alexandra Hill Bushland in mid summer. This grasshopper is variable in colour and pattern, can be in green, brown to greyish-brown. They make sound when in flight. They are easy encountered and sometimes confused with the the locusts species. The major different are their wings are not patterned and their hind legs tibia are not red as locust.
 
 
Froggatt's Buzzer
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Froggattina australis, body length 25mm
When we walk on the bushland with short grass, it is common that every step we walk, we hear a loud buzzing sound and see some insects jump and fly away just above the ground. It is difficult to have a look on what is those insects. Most likely they are the Froggatt's Buzzer grasshoppers. 
 
 
Longheaded Grasshopper, Giant Green Slantface
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Acrida conica, body length nymph 40, adult 70mm
This grasshopper is green in colour with brown strips on it head. Its head is long and with short and flat antennae. Its pair of hind legs are  long and spindly. When disturbed, it opens its wings to make noise and shows the pink-red abdomen. Click here for more information.
  
 

Subfamily Oxyinae - Moisture-loving Grasshoppers

Creek Grasshopper
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Bermius sp. Adult and last instars, body length 30mm
We can easily found this Creek Grasshoppers along Bulimba Creek in Yugarapul Park in Brisbane. They are usually hiding among the tall grasses or reeds next to the water edge. The nymph and adult look the same except adult has fully developed wings. The grasshoppers are green in colour with black strips on both sides of the body from eyes to the wing tips. The top of the head and thorax is brown in colour. More pictures and information in this page.
 

Subfamily Catantopinae - Spur-throated Grasshoppers

Stem Grasshopper, Common Adreppus
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Adreppus fallax, body length 40mm
We sometimes find them in Wishart bushland. They do not move until we come very close. Then they hide at the other side of the tree trunk. More information and pictures please click here.
 
 
Bark-Mimicking Grasshopper
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Coryphistes ruricola, adult body length 40mm, nymph body length 25mm
Bark-Mimicking Grasshoppers are hard to be be seen when they rest on the tree trunk. They do not move until we come very close, then they hide at the other side of the tree trunk. They look similar to another grasshopper species Adreppus fallax which also mimics the bark. This grasshopper species has elongated antennae which is sword shaped and flattened at the bases. More information and pictures please visit this page
 
 
Gumleaf Grasshopper
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Goniaea australasiae, nymph body length 15mm, adult body length 50mm 
The Gum Leaf Grasshopper is brown in colour, camouflages as a dry gum leaf. It has the prominent arched crest on thorax. We can see the adult's orange colour hindwings when it is flying. They are also known as Dead Leaf Grasshopper. More pictures and information please click here.
 
 
Slender Gumleaf Grasshopper 
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Goniaea vocans, nymph body length 20mm, adult body length 50mm
The Slender Gumleaf Grasshopper is brown in colour, camouflages as a dry gum leaf. We can sometimes find them on the ground with the dry Gum tree leaves when bushwalking in Eucalyptus forest. This species is easily confused with the above species Gumleaf Grasshopper Goniaea australasiae. Slender Gumleaf Grasshopper has the carina, or the top edge of thorax, lower and less pronounced, and has a distinct cut. More information and pictures please click here.
 
 
Mimetic Gumleaf Grasshopper
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Goniaea opomaloides, adult body length 40mm
This is another species of grasshopper camouflages in dry gum leaf colour. This species is smaller in size than the species we described above. They feed on gum leaves on the forest ground. When we were bushwalking in the Eucalyptus forest in White Hill, Brisbane, we usually disturbed one or two of them for every step we walked. They jumped and flied to about a meter away and disappeared in the  the dry gum leaves background. More pictures and information please click here.
 
 
Small Gumleaf Grasshopper
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? Goniaea sp., body length 40mm
Pictures taken in Mt Cotton during mid summer. When it flied, we saw its bright yellow-orange hind wings. This grasshopper look likes the Gum Leaf Grasshopper above but smaller in size and has longer antenna with white tips.
 
 
Gumleaf Grasshopper with flat back
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? Goniaea sp., body length 40mm 
When we first saw this grasshopper, we thought it was the Slender Gumleaf Grasshopper. Checked carefully we noticed that  it had the flatten back then we believed they are different species. Also notice that there were the velvet mites attached on its antenna and legs.
 
 
Common Pardillana
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Pardillana limbata, Nymph, 5th instars, body length 40mm, adult body length 60mm
We found this nymph hiding on tree under stem late afternoon in Karawatha Park during early summer. It was orange-brown with blue dots. The colours was some what different than the other Gumleaf Grasshoppers that we saw. We collected the nymph and kept it in a jar, fed it with fresh gum leaves. About two weeks later, it moulted and turned into an adults. More information and pictures please click on here.
 
 
Wingless Grasshopper
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Cedarinia sp., female and female, body length 35mm, 20mm
Both female and male of this grasshopper have very tiny wings. The female size is more than double of the male. The female is pale brown in colour. The male is darker in colour and look quite different too. More pictures and information please click here.
 
 
Handsome Macrotona Grasshopper
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Macrotona mjoebergi, body length nymph 20mm, adult 30mm
The Common Macrotona Grasshopper can be found in eucalyptus forest associated with Spinifex grass Triodia. The above pictures are taken in Alexandra Hill Conservation Area. near Coolnwynpin Creek. More information and pictures please click on here.
 
 
Short winged White-tips
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?Rectitropis sp, adult body length 20mm, nymph body length 15mm
Found in Mt Cotton during mid-summer. The grasshopper is brown to dark brown in colour, reassemble dry leaves on the ground. There are the creamy white line on each side of its thorax. The inner surfaces of its hind legs are black in colour. Their antennae are relatively long comparing with other grasshopper species. There are the white rings near the tip of the antennae. More information and pictures please visit this page.
 

Subfamily Cyrtacanthacridinae  - Giant Spur-throated Grasshoppers

Giant Grasshopper, Giant Valanga
 
Valanga irregularis, nymph length 50mm, female length 90mm
They also commonly known as Hedge Grasshopper. They have large compound eyes, can see meters away. If you approach near to them, they try to hide behind the leaf or branches, will still peep at you by either one of their large eyes. We can find these grasshoppers on every plant in our back yard. They eat almost all kinds of leaves. In the morning, we can find them sun bathing on the trees. At that time they are easy to catch. After they have been warmed up, they can jump very high and fly away quickly. Notice the spines on its hind legs, if they are caught by birds or by spider web, they will attack their predators by their hind legs. We have more information on this grasshopper, please click here.
 
 
Spur-throated Locust, Giant Spur-throated Locust
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Photo: Keith Power, Toowoomba
Austracris proxima
This is one of the pest locust,  forms swarms and can reach plague status in Australia. They attack various crops like sorghum, sunflower or soybean
 

Others

We cannot identify the following grasshoppers. Please advise if you know any of them.

Tiny Creek Grasshopper
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? sp., body length 10mm
You may not see any insect in this picture. But if you watch it carefully, you should see a  grasshopper in the middle. We took this picture on the water edge of a small pond at Bulimba Creek. This small fellow mimic the wet sand and stone on the creek bank. Its hind legs are with green colour of algae. Its thorax and forewings resemble the rocks. Sometimes it jumps onto the water, it then flow back to the bank. 
 
 
Black Wingless Grasshopper with green legs 
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? sp., body length male 15mm, female 30mm
We found this couple on ground next to a large gum tree in Karawatha Forest during mid summer. Both male and female adults have undeveloped wings. Their body is dark brown on the top, pale brown on each side with creamy lines in between. Their three pairs of legs are bright green in colour. We sometimes see these grasshoppers, but thought they were the nymph because of their undeveloped wings. 
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Up ] Giant Green Slantface ] Creek Grasshopper ] Stem Grasshopper ] Bark-Mmicing Grasshopper ] Gum Leaf Grasshopper ] Slender Gum Leaf Grasshopper ] Mimetic Gumleaf Grasshopper ] Common Pardillana ] Wingless Grasshopper ] Handsome Macrotona ] Short-winged White-tips ] Giant Grasshopper ]


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Last updated: May 14, 2005.