Giant Green Slantface - Acrida conica
Family Acrididae
This page contains pictures and information about the Giant Green Slantfaces that we found in the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia.
- Adult body length 70mm
- The grasshopper is also known as Giant Green Slantface. The adult grasshopper is green in colour with brown strips on it head. Its head is long, in cone shape and with short and flat antennae. Its pair of hind legs are long and spindly.
- Nymph, 4th instars, body length 40mm
- Nymph, 3rd instars, body length 40mm.
- Their nymph look similar to the adult except smaller and no wings. Because of it wingless and slender body, it may be mistaken as Morabines.
- We usually found this grasshopper in the evening. Sometime they are found attached by windows light. They could be only active after sun set. The grasshopper feed on long blade grass. So it should not be too difficult to find them in a long blade grass bushland when about sunset.
- The grasshopper has the long cone head and slant face, this explained why they are called. Also notice its flat antenna..
- Longheaded Grasshoppers are a slow moving insect. Although the adult grasshoppers have fully developed wings. They are poor flyer. They fly for short distance, about one to two meters, then drop and hide on floor. They make sound when in flight.
- Their long legs are not strong, merely for walking between grass, and they do not jump very well. The grasshoppers mainly depend on its camouflage colour to avoid predators. When they hide in grasses, they hardly be seen until they move.
- When disturbed, it opens its wings to make noise and shows the pink-red abdomen under its wings as the secondary defence (the first defence is camouflage). In the second picture we hold the grasshopper to show its red abdomen. Of cause it would not happy about this so we let it go after taking the picture.
