Elegant Grasshopper vs Eastern Net-Winged Midge

Side-by-side species comparison

Attribute Elegant Grasshopper Eastern Net-Winged Midge
Scientific Name Zonocerus elegans Blepharicera tenuipes
Order Orthoptera Diptera
Family Pyrgomorphidae Blephariceridae
Size 25-40 mm 6-10 mm
Habitat Farmland Mountains
Diet Predators Predators
Regions Southern Africa, East Africa North America
Conservation Least Concern Least Concern

Elegant Grasshopper

A strikingly colorful grasshopper with green, yellow, black, and orange warning patterns. It feeds on toxic plants and is distasteful to predators.

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Did You Know?

They accumulate toxins from the poisonous plants they eat, making them so unpalatable that even starving birds refuse to eat them.

Eastern Net-Winged Midge

A net-winged midge whose larvae cling to rocks in the fastest torrents using ventral suction discs. Adults have characteristically divided wings.

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Did You Know?

Larvae can maintain their grip on rocks in currents exceeding two meters per second using six suction cups.