Field Grasshopper

• It stridulates by rubbing a row of tiny pegs on the inside of the hind femur against the edge of the wing, a different mechanism from that of crickets, which rub their two wings together.
• Each grasshopper species has a song of its own, and many can be told apart reliably only by listening to them rather than looking at them.
• Its colouring depends in part on the substrate the nymph grows up on, so that individuals of very different appearance live side by side in the same meadow.
• It sings by rubbing its hind legs against its wings, a row of tiny teeth on the femur scraping against a wing vein; the result is a series of short, repeated chirps, characteristic of summer.
• Each species in its genus has a distinct song, and in many cases that song is the only reliable character for telling them apart: they are morphologically almost identical.
• It hybridises in the laboratory with closely related species, and the group is used as a model for studying the role of song in reproductive isolation.
• It hears through its abdomen: its tympanal organs sit on the sides of the first abdominal segment, unlike those of the bush crickets.
• It is one of the most abundant and widespread grasshoppers in Europe, and readily colonises disturbed ground.

Skeleton type

Invertebrate - chitin exoskeleton (insect)

Habitat and environment

Dry grassland, verges, banks and disturbed ground

Sources consulted: Wikipedia (en): Chorthippus brunneus

Best time: From July to October, in dry, sunny grassland