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Giant Red-winged Grasshopper
Tropidacris cristata
16.9944, -89.0476
Field Notes
Description:
This is one of the nymphal stages of a giant red-winged grasshopper. Even at this stage, it is large, about 2½" - 3" long, and brilliantly marked yellow and black. It likely tastes nasty, and this is warning coloration. As an adult, it could be 6-7" long, one of the largest grasshoppers in the world. Photo #4 is the transparent exoskeleton, cast off when the nymph outgrew it.
Habitat:
Spotted in underbrush in the humid rainforest of the Maya Mt. foothills in western Belize
Notes:
I often find a single red underwing lying in the underbrush, dinner leftovers of some satisfied bird.
Reference Links:
Colorful grasshoppers
Species ID Suggestions
Spotted for Missions
Photographed
PublishedFebruary 7, 2016
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