Grasshopper? (1 Viewer)

[Andy Lakin]

Seen today rough grassland South Yorkshire probably tonally wrong but looked like a miniature grasshopper c15 mm's

 

[aeshna5]

It's a nymph (you can see the wing buds)- so yes an immature grasshopper. Think it's Meadow Grasshopper looking at the keels on top of the thorax.

 

[Andy Lakin]

Thanks never seen one that small before.

 

[WalterRayle]

Surely it's a Field Grasshopper with the 'X' mark on top of the thorax and the darkened inner corners of the 'X' at the base of the thorax. On a Meadow Grasshopper the markings on the thorax are straight, hence the species scientific name 'parallelus'.

 

[pdwinter]

+1 for Field Grasshopper nymph. I think penultimate stage - the wing buds are as long as the pronotum in the final stage.

 

[pdwinter]

On a Meadow Grasshopper the markings on the thorax are straight, hence the species scientific name 'parallelus'.

Unfortunately it's on a Lesser Marsh Grasshopper (Chorthippus albomarginatus) that the edges of the pronotum are straight and on a Meadow Grasshopper (Pseudochorthippus parallelus) they are slightly incurved. But when the nymphs are in the early stages (1 or 2) it is very difficult to tell either of these 2 or even Chorthippus brunneus (Field Grasshopper) apart as it takes a few stages for the nymphs to take the shape of the adults.