Jiminy Cricket.....

...because this common brown grasshopper looks like he leapt straight from the pages of Pinocchio

Today Paladian and I went back to Brownhill Creek to see what insects we could find down on the water's edge. It truly is a very small creek. Once Paladian had got her dragonfly, I was about to take over the camera when something small and brown jumped onto my shoulder, then into the "greenish area" of the water.

It was a common brown field grasshopper nymph, and I very quickly had the camera focusing onto him. The hopper had landed on a patch of green algae and I managed 3 quick shots before he left for firmer ground. See him BROWNER in large.

This is probably the most frequently seen grasshopper in Australia, and can be found is different pastel colours. This one was a creamy colour, and the lack of wings tells me he's a nymph. In the adult the tough forewings, which protect the delicate membranous hind wings, are long, and in common with all Chorthippus species, and have a bulge near their base.

The nymph in my blip was about 1.5 cms long and had very powerful looking thighs, hence his amazing springing ability. It is as if he had coiled springs in his legs.

During summer, females lay a large egg pod containing up to 15 eggs in dry ground just below the surface, or sometimes in anthills. The eggs, which are the over-wintering stage, hatch in November (in Australia) and adults appear around Xmas time.

Grasshoppers undergo a type of development known as 'incomplete metamorphosis' in which the larvae, known as 'nymphs', resemble wingless adults, and progress through a series of moults before reaching maturity. They are fascinating bugs, but not fascinating for the farmers up north when they descend in plague proportions!