#horse lubber grasshopper

[brytnoter]

who likes bugs i forgot

@eyenaku @razzledazzlerazzberry @akabendyfan

[lovebizarreoddities]

Devil's horses (Lubber Grasshopper) can grow up to 4 inches in length and are the largest grasshoppers in the United States. It can secrete a foam-like spray to ward off predators and regurgitate plant material mixed with toxin, referred to as "tobacco spit" that can stain clothing.

[ericainafurcoat]

Eastern Lubber Grasshopper

This is my baby, the eastern lubber grasshopper. Their scientific name is romalea microptera though their common names are quite interesting too. In the black adult colour phase, they are widely known as black diablo and in Louisiana, they are known as the devils horse. Colloquially they are also sometimes known as the graveyard grasshopper.

The name I know it by, the eastern lubber grasshopper, is due to its clumsy and slow movement. It mostly travels by walking feebly, linking to 'lubber' which which is derived from an old English word 'lobre' meaning lazy or clumsy. In modern times, it is normally only used by seafarers, who call people inexperienced on boats 'landlubbers'.

It has several defense strategies, the first being its brightly coloured pattern that varies from pale yellow to orange with black spots to black with yellow detailing, which warns predators that its emits a foul-smelling gas from its thorax when disturbed. It also lets off a loud hissing sound.

The eastern lubber grasshoppers only natural predator is the loggerhead shrike, a nasty cruel bird that decapitates them and then impales their carcasses on thorns or barbed wire fences so the sun can bake out the toxins before mealtime. I would love to decapitate a loggerhead shrike and impale its carcass, however unlike a loggerhead shrike, I have dignity and a merciful nature.

There are some lovely animals which prey on the loggerhead shrike for me : snakes who will attack them and eat their eggs, crows and magpies, larger birds generally and domestic cats who kill billions of shrike a year. Good kitties.

The loggerhead shrike cruelly breaks the neck of mice and brutally slaughters frogs, lizards, beetles and crickets. Shrikes grasp mice by the neck with their pointed beak, pinch the spinal chord to induce paralysis and then vigorously shake their prey with enough force to break its neck. They are sometimes known as 'butcherbirds' due to their violent nature. Fortunately, the loggerhead population has declined by more than 80% since the 1960s, possibly due to pesticides killing their insect prey.

On that note, as much as I adore lubber grasshoppers, they are garden pests. Although they can defoliate entire plants, more typically, they defoliate only regions of plants, eating holes or portions of leaves instead of stripping them bare. Because of this behaviour, lubber grasshoppers can be pests of ornamental or vegetable gardens, especially when they gather together. What can I say, my babies have slightly mischievous tendencies to ruin gardens.

Unfortunately eastern lubber grasshoppers are often seen in biology classrooms for dissection due to being big bois as they grow up to 3 inches which is larger than other grasshoppers.

Also, grasshoppers are just so cool. Grasshoppers are among what is possibly the most ancient living group of chewing herbivorous insects, dating back to the early Triassic period around 250 million years ago. They can also jump 20 times the length of their own body. Strangely, their auditory organs are found on their abdomen rather than their head.

[kenneturner]

Grasshopper Atop a Saguaro Cactus Horse Lubber Grasshopper Atop a Saguaro Cactus -- Photo-Artistry by kenne A big grasshopper On top of a big cactus A bigness du Jour. -- kenne

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[onenicebugperday]

@tuesday-titration submitted: cool bug i found in northern mexico once :3

WHAT a beautiful grasshopper! It's so fun when regular looking bugs have a colorful surprise hidden under their wings. This friend looks like a horse lubber in the genus Taeniopoda :)

[kollapstradixionales]

Devil's Horse (eastern lubber grasshopper)

[cool-critters]

Eastern lubber grasshopper (Romalea microptera)

Romalea is a genus of grasshoppers native to the south-eastern and south-central United States. It is monotypic with a single species, Romalea microptera, known commonly as the eastern lubber grasshopper. Romalea microptera goes through several stages, like all insects. When in the nymph stage, it is smaller than in the adult stage, wingless and completely black with one or more yellow, orange or red stripes. In the adult stage, they reach 64–76 mm, grow wings half the length of their body and become either a dull yellow often characterized by black spots and markings, a bright orange with black markings, or entirely black (as in the nymph stage) with yellow or red striping. In the black adult color phase, the grasshopper is widely known by the name "diablo" or "black diablo". In Louisiana, they are known as the "Devil's horse" or "cheval-diable". The insect is also colloquially known as a "graveyard grasshopper". Romalea microptera has several defense strategies. The first is its brightly colored warning pattern (aposematism). Additionally, the insect emits a foul-smelling and foul-tasting foamy secretion from the thorax when it is disturbed.

photo credits: birdphotos.com, Darth Mike, Andrew Cannizzaro , Fredlyfish4

[tiny-crecher]

horse lubber grasshopper = a freakin /unit/

I’m sorry a what

[sitting-on-me-bum]

Horse Lubber Grasshopper (Taeniopoda eques) by Jerry Kirkhart Via Flickr: Very colorful grasshopper with such unique veins in the wings.

[christianbaileyceramics]

This guy posed so perfectly that I just had to do a photo shoot. Now the brain is running on what to make of him. I had done an eastern lubber or devils horse sculpture once before. It maybe time to make another one. #model #grasshopper #inspiration https://www.instagram.com/p/CWb59rcLbVR/?utm_medium=tumblr

[gdawsondesigns]

Meet Taeniopoda eques, the western horse lubber grasshopper. Quite a friendly fellow and harmless unless you were to eat one. Apparently they dine on toxic plants and the toxicity carries over into their flesh. (at Bisbee, Arizona) https://www.instagram.com/p/CU3E3JLvkze/?utm_medium=tumblr

[nunoxaviermoreira]

Graveyard Grasshopper by StrangeCharmDesign One of the Everglades' famous eastern lubber grasshoppers (Romalea microptera), also known as Florida lubbers, black diablos, the Devil's horse, graveyard grasshoppers, or giant locusts. These things are huge (up to 3 inches in size) and are omnipresent on the Anhinga Trail in Everglades National Park. https://flic.kr/p/2ksojBB

[fourcolormacrophoto]

Fourcolor Macro: Wester horse lubber grasshopper by GinaOrozco

[kenneturner]

On the Grasshopper and Cricket -- Keats

On the Grasshopper and Cricket — Keats

Horse Lubber Grasshopper — Photo-Artistry by kenne

One of the many bloggers I follow is “The Parlando Project – Where Music and Words Meet,” where Frank Hudson presents short audio pieces, from 2 to 10 minutes in length, combining music and spoken word in various ways.

On July 31st Frank posted “On the Grasshopper and Cricket.” Click hereto read Frank’s story on what lead him to combine music…

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