Meadow Grasshopper
Chorthippus parallelus
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Our only native grasshopper that cannot fly — the wings never finish growing.
A small to medium grasshopper, usually green but occasionally brown, pink or purple, with gently curved side keels on the pronotum. The distinguishing feature is the wings: in females especially they are conspicuously short, reaching only part-way down the abdomen, and the species is flightless. Meadow grasshoppers are abundant in rough grassland, verges and meadows around Dumfries.
Behaviour
Because it cannot fly, this grasshopper spreads slowly and depends on continuous grassland — it is a good indicator of long-established, unimproved sward. The song is a short, dry, rasping burst repeated every few seconds, much briefer than the common green grasshopper's long whirr. Eggs are laid in a froth-covered pod just below the soil surface and overwinter there.
When to see it
Quick facts
- Family
- Short-horned grasshoppers (Acrididae)
- Size
- 10–23 mm
- Status
- Native; abundant, and our only flightless grasshopper
Photo by G.-U. Tolkiehn, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons