Did you know there’s an unofficial song of summer? And it comes from one particular insect.
Grasshopper calls are the elevator music of summer. As their rasping drones on, we soon tune it out.
Grasshoppers create songs that are repeated without a musical pitch. The songs aren’t whistles or trills. Instead, they sound like two pieces of sandpaper scratching together. It’s a sort of insect rhythm section. Let’s just say the noise doesn’t give you the urge to sing along.
A grasshopper makes its coarse tune by rubbing a series of small spines on its hind leg across a scraper on its wing, like sliding a thumbnail along the teeth of a comb. Each species has its own call to attract mates, just as birds do. Usually, only males take to music attracting females with their calls. They mate, and the female lays eggs. Tiny nymphs hatch from the eggs the following spring. By late summer, the nymphs have grown through about five molts to become adults with a song.
Try tuning in to the grasshoppers when you go outside. Listen for their different calls, especially during the day along roadsides and in woods and fields. But not to worry, you won’t find yourself humming along.
The Insect of Summer
- Admirable grasshoppers have a very slanted face and long hindlegs. Males are expert fliers, whereas females are weak fliers and prefer to hop.
- They prefer dry, grassy, weedy areas, especially disturbed places
- Admirable grasshoppers ‘ eggs are deposited in masses in the soil, where they mature over winter until the following spring.
- Differential grasshoppers are relatively large grasshoppers that vary somewhat in coloration and may be green, brownish-green or olive green. The femurs of the hind legs have a black herringbone pattern, and the tibias are usually yellow with black saw-toothed spikes.
- At times, differential grasshoppers occur in large enough populations to cause severe damage to agricultural crops. One of their favored food plants is giant ragweed.
Learn more about the grasshoppers in the MDC’s Field Guide.
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