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Family: Acrididae (grasshoppers and locusts)
Life
> Eukaryotes >
Opisthokonta >
Metazoa (animals) > Bilateria > Ecdysozoa
> Panarthropoda > Tritocerebra > Phylum:
Arthopoda > Mandibulata >
Atelocerata > Panhexapoda >
Hexapoda
> Insecta (insects) > Dicondyla > Pterygota >
Metapterygota > Neoptera > Polyneoptera > Anartioptera >
Orthopterida > Orthoptera
 The common large grasshopper found in Cape gardens Acanthacris ruficornis (photo.
N. Larsen). |
 An unidentified grasshopper photographed on the fringes of Newlands
Forest, Cape Peninsula (photo. H. Robertson). |
The majority of non-colourful grasshopper species fall within the family Acrididae. If
the grasshopper is very colourful it is probably a pyrgomorphid.
The acridids include the locusts which are a select group of grasshoppers that are able to
pass into a swarming phase subject to the right environmental conditions. Large,
non-swarming, grasshoppers are often loosely referred to as locusts which is
incorrect.
(Brown Locust) - important pest locust species in South Africa.
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