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Valanga irregularis
Young and already voracious! This is a nymph of the Hedge Grasshopper, a species native to Australia and the largest grasshopper there. Adult length is 85 mm. The nymphs are green, or have a black and orange pattern like the one spotted here.
A suburban garden planted with Australian natives. The nymph is feasting on the leaves of a young Hymenosporum flavum or native frangipani, a rainforest tree.
These are common and thrive in the Brisbane area, and will feed on many different leaves. They pass the winter in the adult stage. During the January to March period the population of this grasshopper is almost entirely nymphs, which mature by about April. Ref. Wildlife of Greater Brisbane, 2007. www.qm.qld.gov.au
20 Comments
Thanks Juan! Pretty but hungry :-(
very impressive!
You're welcome Brandon! it's my pleasure to promote your mission:-) FYI the habitat is a suburban garden we redid 2 year ago and which is planted exclusively with South-East Queensland natives (60 different species). I hope it'll develop into a nice little habitat for many critters!
Daniele, Thank you so much for adding this to the Backyard Habitats Mission!
Very very cool little nymph! Quite the attractive little one.
This Australian grasshopper nymph has just joined Brandon Blount's Backyard Habitats mission, which has gone Global. Join the mission here:
http://www.projectnoah.org/missions/1075...
Gracias Gerardo!
Grate photos !
That's OK Satyen, there will be enough to eat for everyone! I did relocate it though:-) They do like young leaves and this is a young tree.
Very sad.
Thanks Satyen! it's eating my garden though :-(
Fabulous clicks!
Yeah, all in my vegie garden (apart from one that was in my grandfather's vegie garden)! I have a few more different ones as well, just haven't got around to posting them yet.
Shanna :-( Fantastic that you have spotted all these different variations though!
Sigh, they are certainly everywhere! Here are a few of my other shots that show the colour variations.
http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/987... (similar to this one)
http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/903... (green with blue eyes)
http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/862... (gree with pink eyes)
@Dan, the tree is misleadingy called frangipani because of a resemblance in the flowers. Indeed no relation of Plumeria. The flowers have a strong fragrance too. it's in thePittosporaceae. Here is a Pittosporum in its native environment in the Daintree forest: http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/636...
Beautiful tree, I hope it makes it too! The fragrance of Frangipani is one of my favorites, but I've never heard of this one, not in the Plumeria genus.
Gracias harsuame!
Thanks Dan! The critter is unfortunately feeding on a "native frangipani" (Hymenosporum flavum) I only planted 2 years ago. I still hope this beautiful tree will get to 20m. Check it out!
http://anpsa.org.au/h-fla.html
Great macro!
Here is the same nymph seen by ShannaB just a bit further north...
http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/102...