The eastern lubber grasshopper stands out as a distinctive and notably large species within the grasshopper community. Recognized by its striking coloration, this species is not only visually impressive but also fascinating due to its behavior and life cycle. Let’s dive into interesting facts about this insect, from its appearance and lifecycle to its behavior.
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Orthoptera
Family: Romaleidae
Genus: Romalea
They have a striking appearance
The eastern lubber grasshopper is one of the most popular types of grasshopper. It’s a member of the lubber grasshoppers. This species is known by various names like devil’s horse, Florida lubber grasshopper, or graveyard grasshopper.
This species is known for its vibrant colors. Adults have mainly yellow or tawny bodies with black markings on their antennae, pronotum, and abdominal segments. Their forewings are long enough to cover most of their abdomen length and have a pink or rose color in the middle. On the other hand, their back wings are shorter and entirely rose-colored. You can also find the darker version of this species where yellow is less prominent. In northern Florida, you can see an eastern lubber grasshopper with a mostly black body. The bright colors of this insect aren’t just for looks; they’re a clear warning to predators that it’s toxic and can make them sick if they try to eat it.
Not only are these insects colorful, but they’re also huge. The males have a size of about 4-6 cm in length, while females can range from 5-7 cm, sometimes even reaching up to 9 cm.
Habitat
The eastern lubber grasshopper comes from the southeastern United States. You can find them in many places, from Florida up to North Carolina and Tennessee, and across states like Texas, Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Arizona. These grasshoppers like to hang out in open pine woods. You’ll also spot them in areas with lots of weedy plants and fields.
Eastern lubber grasshopper Diet
The eastern lubber grasshopper has a varied diet, eating a wide range of plant species, including shrubs, broadleaf weeds, herbs, and grasses. However, they have a special preference for forbs, which are plants with broad leaves, over grasses. Among their favorite foods are lizard’s tail, pokeweed, arrowhead, sedge pickerel weed, and tread-softly. Although these insects have a big size, they don’t eat as much food as their smaller counterparts do.
When they’re young, their nymphs tend to dine on emergent aquatic vegetation and certain unwanted weeds in ditches before moving to farm fields later on.
Interestingly, the saliva of these grasshoppers contains a substance that actually encourages plant growth. This means that a plant that has been nibbled on by these grasshoppers might grow even bushier and become more attractive to other plant-eating creatures.
Predators
Eastern lubber grasshoppers don’t have many predators, thanks to their bright colors that act as a warning to predators, telling them, “Don’t eat me, I taste bad!” However, they can still be eaten by birds, lizards, or other insects like praying mantises. When they need to protect themselves, they can use different strategies, from using their body structure and sounds to releasing chemicals.
When facing enemies, like birds, they spread their wings and sometimes make hissing sounds to try to scare the predator away. They can even make a loud hissing sound by expelling an irritant from their body to scare away predators. If that doesn’t work, they release a strong, toxic spray known as “tobacco juice” from their body, which comes from chemicals derived from what they eat. This spray can shoot out up to 15 cm (6 inches), helping them keep predators at bay. While these defenses might scare off many vertebrate animals, invertebrate creatures seem to be less bothered by them.
Anyway, these strong defenses show how lubbers have adapted to a lifestyle where they move slowly and aren’t very good at running.
Behavior
Despite being big and heavy, these grasshoppers aren’t good at flying or jumping. Instead, they usually walk or crawl. But they’re great climbers and often climb trees to eat young leaves.
These lubber grasshoppers travel long distances when they’re young. They move in big groups due to their social behavior. Sometimes they go to farms and eat vegetables and fruits like corn, peanuts, cowpeas, citrus, peaches, and figs.
Although the eastern lubber grasshoppers aren’t invasive, they are a big problem for farmers and gardeners. They can ruin crops and damage ornamental plants, but these pests are not poisonous and dangerous to humans or cats and dogs. But watch out if you touch it because it can make loud noises and release a stinky foam!
Life Cycle
Lubber grasshoppers have one life cycle each year. In the summer, female grasshoppers lay eggs, and males often stick around to protect them, sometimes for over a day. The females like to lay their eggs in sunny spots that are high up. They use the tip of their abdomen to dig a hole in the ground and lay a cluster of 30 – 50 yellowish to brown eggs in a light foamy material, up to 5 cm deep.
These eggs overwinter and hatch in spring. The young eastern lubber grasshoppers look different from the adults. Nymphs usually have a mostly black body with a colorful stripe running down their back, which can be yellow, orange, or red. Sometimes, they might have touches of red on their face, pronotum edge, and abdomen, which may turn yellow as they grow.
As they go through five or sometimes six stages of growth (called instars), the juveniles get bigger, their antennae change and their wings start to develop. Eventually, they become adults with wings that cover their ears. Nymphs like to hang out together, especially at night, and you can often find them grouped on plants.
The lifespan of these eastern lubber grasshoppers is about 7 – 9 months.
References: Entnemdept.ufl.edu
