Green Citrus Locust

Description:

Acrididae; Catantopinae; Melicodes; M. tenebrosa Walker, 1870. This large locust is all green except for the antennae which are yellow/ brown and the spines on the rear tibiae which are yellow. It has large round white eyes with black irises/pupils. When I spotted this locust, it had obviously just moulted as the abdomen was curved and the wings were short. Although I could not touch and disturb it, I could see that the wings were limp and floppy. The first picture was taken at 11:07 a.m. and the last at 11:12 a.m. In those five minutes, the abdomen had straightened out and the wings had grown slightly longer and were now stiff. It looked ready to fly, but it remained hanging in that position for more than 2 hours (I think this time was needed for the exoskeleton to harden). Next time I looked, it was gone.

Habitat:

I spotted this Green Citrus Locust hanging from a leaf on a Pomelo (Citrus maxima) growing at the corner of the rice mill building.

Notes:

If you look at the five pictures, one by one, you will see the changes I described above. For me, it was a great privilege to witness this as it happened. Other projectnoah spottings: https://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/16... https://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/20... https://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/17...