Humbe tenuicornis (Schaum, 1853)

Caveat to the new random selection of featured creatures - if all photographs of the randomly selected subject (Morphacris fasciata) are blurry, selecting a neighbouring species is acceptable.

And so I give you:

Although I like this angle, I recognise that it's a little generic, so I'll be generous and give you another shot of this species:

Both images captured in Chongwe, Lusaka, Zambia in February 2013, using Olympus DSLR with 40-150mm Zuiko Lens and 3 KOOD magnifiers.

This lovely grasshopper is:

Humbe tenuicornis

(Schaum, 1853)

Although widespread and fairly awesome, it's the only species in the genus. Which adds a level of confidence to my identification of this (African) species. 

I can't say much about it, except that it seems most common late in the rainy season and, like all known true grasshoppers, is probably primarily herbivorous. It has no common name that I'm aware of, although, as children, my sister and I referred to this (and several less abundant species) as 'dinosaur grasshoppers' because of the inflated, keeled pronotum, which was vaguely reminiscent of the hoods of Ceratopsids such as Triceratops. I did say vaguely. 

Anyway, into the taxonomy: 

- Oedipodinae
 - Acrididae       

See also Cyathosternum prehensile

- Acridoidea       

See also Lobosceliana loboscelis

- Acrididea            
 - Caelifera                
- Orthoptera                

See also Stictogryllacris punctata

- Panorthoptera              
- Orthopterida                   
- Polyorthoptera                  
 - Anartioptera                        
- Polyneoptera                          

See also Sibylla 

- Neoptera                                    

See also  Dolichotachina caudata, Diasemopsis meigenii, Helophilus pendulus, Episyrphus balteatus, Senaspis haemorrhoa, Megistocera filipes, Panorpa germanica, Acada biseriata Anthocharis cardamines, Laelia robusta, Zebronia phenice, Andrena nigroaenea, Synagris proserpina, Vespula germanica, Astata tropicalis, Hagenomyia tristis, Crambus pascuella, Demetrias atricapillus, Anthia fornasiini, Melolontha melolontha, Malachius bipustulatus, Otiorhynchus atroapterus, Pephricus, Anoplocnemis curvipes, Ranatra,  Grypocoris stysi and Cheilomenes lunata.

- 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 Burhinus vermiculatus, Chiromantis xerampelina, Rana temporaria, Thelotornis capensis, Trachylepis varia, Lygodactylus capensis, Ardea goliath, Chalcophaps indica, Sterna hirundo, Synchiropus splendidus and Hipposideros vittatus.

- Bilateralia                                                                            

- Eumetazoa                                                                              

- Animalia                                                                                     

- Eukaryota                                                                                       

And, beyond the obligatory footnote that grasshoppers are awesome, That's All, Folks. 



As always, the Orthoptera Species File is the place to go to identify tropical orthopterans. It's strongest in the US and Europe, for which purpose-built guides can be found, but African grasshoppers are generally well covered, as are most katydids (other family groups are not as complete for their coverage of images and ranges). 

 

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. 

Hagenomyia tristis (Walker, 1853)

We'll not mention St. George and the Gecko... er, Dragon (Context: Yesterday, 23/04, was the day of England's Patron Saint, George, whose primary claim to fame is slaying a dragon. Recognising that tales of a fire breathing dragon are likely exaggerated from accounts of a more-or-less bog-standard reptile, a friend and I theorized that in fact, as opposed to the typical conclusion that the dragon was one of the not-unheard-of historic crocodiles-that-crossed-the-mediterranean-in-search-of-the-promised-land, the dragon was an inch-long gecko that terrorized early christian villagers by licking its eyeballs at them).

Instead, today, we're going to explore the fourth major Superorder of the Endopterygota. We've introduced - elsewhere - wasps and co. (Hymenopterida), beetles and pals (Coleopterida) and flies et al. (including moths, scorpionflies and caddisflies, Panorpida). Any guesses as to whom the fourth group could comprise?

No?

Ah, well, you'll find out soon enough. Once more into the taxonomy!

We've already established that we're looking in Eukaryota-Animalia-Eumetazoa-Bilateralia-Nephrozoa-Protostomia-Ecdysozoa-Arthropoda-Hexapoda-Insecta-Dicondylia-Pterygota-Metapterygota-Neoptera-Eumetabola and Endopterygota. 

So where to go from here?

Neuropterida, the superorder dominated by (and named for) the
  Neuroptera, or lacewings. These are best known as small, pearly-green insects that flutter out of the grass around dusk in late summer, with species such as the (species complex) Chrysoperla carnea. We're going to leave them, and their suborder of Hemerobiiformia behind, and instead jump into the:
    Myrmeleontiformia,
      Myrmeleontoidea and the
        Myrmeleontidae, the family most often referred to as the ant-lions. As a suborder, they are fairly universally distributed, but in Northern Europe, they are scarce to - over most of the UK - entirely absent.
          Myrmelontinae
            Mymeliontini and, taking a rare dive into the mysterious world of sub-tribes,
              Myrmeleontina, where we find our genus and, within, the species:

Hagenomyia tristis

(Walker, 1853)

So let's meet it: 

This lovely creature is also known as the Gregarious Antlion, largely because you very rarely see one on its own, but instead, walking through a drift of thick-leaved grasses in lightly shaded woodland, you'll disturb hundreds at once. This one and its companions seen in an orchard in Chongwe, Lusaka, Zambia, in February 2013. 

As with most of their relatives, the young are subterranean predators with large jaws and mouthparts well designed for sucking the juice out of any insect small and unfortunate enough to be caught in their jaws. Adults of this family, despite their generally weak flight, are typically also predatory, with chewing mouthparts. 

It is important to note that scale is everything here - they may be terrifying monsters to an unsuspecting mosquito or aphid, but to human beings they are completely harmless. 

To put the above image in full body context, here's a more inclusive shot: 

Images captured February 2013, in Chongwe Distr., Lusaka, Zambia, using an Olympus E-420, and all editing, cropping etc. done using GIMP 2.