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It is one of the family of "Foam grasshoppers."

Here is a description of another one of the family, the same basics apply.

Another colourfull one that was found on Metsi Metsi trail .
Some of the detail has been lost in posting it , the original was close to perfect .

Hi there. My grasshopper is not quite as colorful as those previous ones, but if anyone can tell me what kind of grasshopper this is, it would be great.

Thanks!

hi darth bangkok, your pic looks like a garden locust. feeds on leaves, buds, flowers of trees and grass. my book say "these strong insects can break human skin when they kick, using the spines of the hind legs". great pic, it is more difficult to take a good picture with these camouflage guys than the colourful ones. well done!

Hi Tshwene,

Sorry, I didn't receive any message that this thread had a response, but I decided to come by and check, so I just saw your response. Thanks for all that information. I am glad I didn't get toooo close then, I like my skin in one piece

Cheers!

Salamanda, beautiful beastie you have there!

It looks to me like an adult female predatory katydid (what I call a Tettigoniid or long-horned grasshopper). Depending on who is talking, it is in the subfamily Saginae. They are purely predatory, and eat whatever they can catch. Recently an Australian genus (if they are in fact in the same subfamily, which I do not know offhand) has been found to eat male cicadas, which they catch by mimicking the famales' calls! I am not aware of such behaviour round here. Maybe our katydids are more sentimental, or not so clever, maybe our cicadas are just too smart!

Either way, I have a really soft spot for the predatory Tettigoniidae.

They do have pretty sharp jaws though, so don't let them bite your soft spots.

Jon

This one flew into my car a few Ks north of Nossob — I'd thought that I'd developed an "interesting" squeek until I spotted this critter on the passenger seat. Some sort of grasshopper? Or a cicaeda?



Not very large, a bit more than an inch IIRC (would that be roughly 25mm? I'm hopeless with metric ).

Hi arks I'm no expert but it could be a grasshopper or a locust, maybe someone else can tell you the specie!

Arks it is a grasshopper (Family Acrididae). from your pic it looks as if the middle legs are elongated and this indicates that it is most probably a Burrowing grasshopper (Acrotylus). They can also stridulate very loudly so that could account for the squeak Acrotylus patruelis is the most common in that area

Thanks, oddesy. With your help I googled and found a photo on line that looks quite like mine It was definitely making quite a loud noise and I was very happy to find that it was the grasshopper and not my car

Is there any insect expert that knows what kind of grasshopper this fiery thing is? Saw it in Boulders, near the penguins

Morning maiper
I have just had a look through my books but I cannot find this exact critter.
I can only find the foam grasshopper ..although it is red it is a bit different.
Maybe this one also belongs to the foam grasshopper group..not sure.

Thank you Caracal for looking through your books !

I think it is a Common Milkweed Locust.

This individual appears to still be in the 'pedestrian' stage of development. Notice the short little wings - they still have to grow longer before he can claim to be a mature specimen. According to the book (Updated Field Guide to Insects of South Africa) nymphs take two years to reach maturity.

Lee, I reckon that you are right. Immature Pyrgomorphids generally differ from the adults in colour and behaviour. For one thing, in the first few stages the nymphs (or larvae, modern entomologists are sceptical about the validity of the distinction, but suit yourself, it is harmless at worst), the nymphs as I say, tend to swarm somewhat. Those that emerge from one or a few neighbouring egg purses, will stick together and feed and move in a mass. Such youngsters commonly are shiny, waxy black with little spots of vivid red or yellow. In a mass like that they scare off many of their possible predators, and naive predators quickly learn that there is not much to catch and eat apart from a sickening, poisonous secretion.
Many insects with warning colouration form such defensive masses. You probably have seen similar groups of red Pyrrhocorid stinkbug nymphs on plants from time to time.
As the young Pyrgomorphids grow and pass through their various instars, they become less sociable and the red spots in their colouration become larger until they take over and develop into the adult pattern. I should guess that the one in the picture was in its last, or just possibly second last, instar.
I hope that someone finds that helpful.
Cheers.
Jon