Lobosceliana loboscelis (Schaum, 1853)

I have, to my unending surprise, met people who intensely dislike grasshoppers.

Female, sitting on my index finger, Chongwe, Lusaka, Zambia, October 2011. Taken using an Olympus E-420, Zuiko  40-150mm lens and two (possibly three) KOOD magnifiers.

This lovely species, which, as an aside, doesn't ever form the large, mobile locust swarms that arise when grasshoppers are subjected to poor land management practices (read - people who farm with machines when unemployment is at record levels). They're primarily a species of leaf-litter, which means that they're not great at surviving in developed areas, but at the edge of the suburbs, they can just about cling on. 

- Porthetinae   

- Pamphagidae   

- Acridoidea           

See also Cyathosternum prehensile

- Acrididea                 

- Caelifera                      

- Orthoptera                        

See also Stictogryllacris punctata

- Panorthoptera                       

- Orthopterida                            

- Polyorthoptera                            

- Anartioptera                                   

- Polyneoptera                                     

See also Sibylla

- Neoptera                                              

See also: Episyrphus balteatus, Zebronia phenice, Laelia robusta, Hagenomyia tristis, Vespula germanica, Synagris proserpina, Astata tropicalis, Melolontha melolontha, Otiorhynchus atroapterus, Malachius bipustulatus, Pephricus, Anoplocnemis curvipes, Anthia fornasiini,

 Diasemopsis meigenii, Senaspis haemorrhoa, Helophilus pendulus, Megistocera filipes, Demetrias atricapillus, Acada biseriata, Anthocharis cardamines, Panorpa germanica, Dolichotachina caudata and Ranatra.

- Manopterygota                                         

See also Rhyothemis semihyalina, Pseudagrion hageni and Enallagma cyathigerum

- Pterygota                                                    

- Dicondylia                                                     

- Insecta                                                               

- Hexapoda                                                             

- Arthropoda                                                              

See also Ligia oceanica, Dicranopalpus ramosus, Enoplognatha ovata, Argiope bruennichi and Hyllus argyrotoxus.

- Ecdysozoa                                                                  

- Protostomia                                                                   

- Nephrozoa                                                                        

See also Chiromantis xerampelina, Thelotornis capensis, Trachylepis varia, Lygodactylus capensis, Ardea goliath, Chalcophaps indica, Sterna hirundo, Synchiropus splendidus and Hipposideros vittatus.

- Bilateralia                                                                             

- Eumetazoa                                                                               

- Animalia                                                                                       

- Eukaryota                                                                                         

And to give you a short break after all that text, here's the male:

Lobosceliana loboscelis male in August 2011, in Chongwe, Lusaka, Zambia. Photograph taken using Olympus E-420 DSLR, Zuiko  40-150mm lens and 2 KOOD magnifiers.

This is one of a number of well-camouflaged grasshoppers in the family Pamphagidae, some of which are referred to as rock-grasshoppers or similar, based on their often incredible camouflage. Of the central African genera, Lobosceliana is quite distinctive, being considerably less thorny than most of its relatives. Within Lobosceliana, L. loboscelis  wingless females can be identified by, among other things, the peculiarly deep, curved keel to their hind femora.

And that's all, folks!


UPDATE: After a more recent (January 2014) encounter with a female L. loboscelis, I can now report of an interesting defensive display: at night, when resting, they puff air out of their abdomen and periodically violently kick out their legs if touched, thereby giving a fair impression of a disgruntled puff adder (an impression that is rather detracted from if a torch is close at hand). Enough to make my blood pound before I saw what it was, at any rate.