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Project Noah Nature School
Acrida sp.
I have never seen a grasshopper with this great camouflage! It is a bit tricky to find it in the last picture...
Coumpound app. 150 meters from the Indian Ocean. A lot of bushes and grass nearby.
This is what I have found: The spotting is most likely Acrida Acuminata, Acrida Truxalis or Acrida Truxaloides and they are found in South Africa. These can look very similar to eachother and according to one source: "I venture no further than family unless we can see hind wing patterns (mottled black in Truxalis) and the presence (Truxalis and Truxaloides) or absence (Acrida) of stridulatory serrations on the inner hind femora. It is a dense row of short ridges or riffles of the cuticle, situated on the inside of the hind femur. By moving this "file" of ridges very fast over a "plectrum" (single strong ridge) on the forewing (in rest), the hopper makes its sound (= stridulation). The microscopic details of the file and the plectrum are of great importance in the taxonomy of all singing Orthoptera, even if their call is not melodious, It is, in my opinion, completely impossible to see these structures on any standard photo of a grasshopper or cricket. The structures are small, and, as said, on the inside of the hind leg." I do not know how reliable this persons analyze is, but for now I will leave this Stick grasshopper with the Acrida sp. (http://www.ispot.org.za/species_dictiona...)
Thank you for the comments Sckel and RiekoS :) It is a master in camouflage indeed! And Kerry, a good reason to look through your great spottings! You are on something here :) I will start my research on it now...
You might like to check in my spottings Tiz. I have an Australian version of the Giant Green Slantface.
Thank you very much Faredin for taking the time! I am out in the field, but when I am back in Maputo i will check your links and start my own investigation. You are super!
Dear Sister, amazing spotting! It's definitely genus Acrida and possibly Acrida acuminata (called Stick Grasshopper and in your case it's a nymph) and here is a link with 2 nice photos that looks exactly like yours: http://www.pbase.com/paulcools666/image/... . This genus contains 40 species that are found in Europe and Asia but can't find the list that shows only the African species so if you want to check all the species and make sure about the ID then you should check all the species one by one form this link :): http://orthoptera.speciesfile.org/Common...
As extra here is a spotting of a nymph but doesn't look exactly like yours so could be because of different stage or wrong ID: http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/146... and in the following link you can find 2 photos of an adult form of A. acuminata: http://www.zandvleitrust.org.za/art-ZIMP...
Ye, he does move his pupils around a bit, doesn't he? That top view would have been something amazing with a macro lens :) But I have time to explore the macro photography world later on in my life...
That's one funky-looking head. Even from the top view it looks like it's watching you.
Spotted on Aug 11, 2013
Submitted on Aug 17, 2013
