"He ate only grass, did not touch the booger …" - says the famous children's song about a green grasshopper that fell victim to a gluttonous frog. Grasshoppers are often confused with their close relatives, the locust. Meanwhile, the grasshopper is not nearly as harmless as it is commonly believed, and also has a number of significant differences from the locust.
Both the grasshopper and the locust belong to the class insects (invertebrates, arthropods), the order Orthoptera. At the same time, the locusts belong to the family of true locusts, and the grasshopper belongs to the family of true grasshoppers.
External differences between grasshopper and locust
You can distinguish a grasshopper from a locust, first of all, by its appearance:
- the antennae of the locust are short, and the antennae of the grasshopper are long;
- the locust has an elongated body, the grasshopper has a short, thick body;
- the locust has large compound eyes, the grasshopper has small eyes;
- in the female locust, the posterior part of the abdomen is rounded; in the female grasshopper, an elongated saber-shaped ovipositor is located at the end of the abdomen.
Other differences between grasshopper and locust
In addition, by their nature, grasshoppers are predators: they hunt and feed on insects, while locusts are a peaceful vegetarian who feeds on plants.
Grasshoppers lead a solitary lifestyle, do not build nests and shelters, live in bush branches or among the foliage of trees, less often in the grass. Grasshoppers hunt at night.
Locusts are active during the daytime. These insects are able to migrate thousands of kilometers and move, huddling in huge flocks, numbering in the billions of individuals. By feeding on plants, locusts are thus capable of inflicting enormous damage on farmland.
Locusts take refuge only on the ground, among the grass. The female's eggs are laid directly in the soil.
Grasshopper females lay their eggs in plant stems, under the bark of trees or bushes, and only sometimes in small holes in the soil.
Despite the fact that grasshoppers are considered harmless and even children are not afraid of them, these insects, which have a powerful jaw apparatus, can bite very sensitively. Locusts, some of which grow up to 20 cm in size, are actually harmless and do not bite.
Grasshoppers have more developed front legs with which they grip and hold prey. The hind legs of the grasshopper are weak, with their help the insect occasionally makes small jumps, but for the most part the grasshoppers do not jump, but crawl. On the other hand, in locusts, the front legs are weak, while the hind legs are well developed.
Locusts can be safely classified as pests, since these insects are capable of destroying vegetation in vast territories, while a grasshopper can be called a friend of farmers, because, by destroying insects, including harmful ones, it benefits agriculture.
