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Sticker of Painted grasshopper
Bug card No. 3212 of 4,939

Painted grasshopper

Poekilocerus pictus
Name means: “Aak is the local name of the poisonous plant it loves to eat.”
Eats: PlantsGrasshoppers and cricketsDeserts and dry places6 legs

The painted grasshopper is a big, colourful grasshopper with bright yellow and blue stripes. Its colours are a warning: it is full of poison from the plants it eats. The young ones can even squirt a stinky jet at anyone who grabs them.

Lives in
India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, mostly in dry places
Length
4.3 to 6.1 cm (1.7 to 2.4 in)
Top speed
about 11 km/h (6.8 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Better not touch
It does not bite people, but it is poisonous and can squirt a smelly liquid. Do not pick it up, and never put one near your mouth.
What does it eat?
It loves poisonous milkweed plants called aak, and takes their poison into its own body. It also eats many other plants, including farm crops.
For real!Photo of Painted grasshopper
Picture by Haneesh K M.. CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Painted grasshopper about 6.1 cm long (2.4 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)A banana about 18 cm (7.1 in)
as long as 2 toy building bricks in a rowcould run across a dinner table in 0.3 secondsmoves 50 times its own body length every second

How big is Painted grasshopper compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

The young ones can squirt their stinky milky liquid about 30 centimetres, as far as a ruler is long.

2

The squirt aims right at the spot where it is being pinched.

3

Grown-ups do not squirt. Instead a bubbly foam oozes out along their sides.

4

Its name aak grasshopper comes from the local name of its favourite poisonous plant.

5

Its back wings are pale red or orange, hidden under green front wings with yellow spots.

you asked

Most asked questions about Painted grasshopper

?Is the painted grasshopper poisonous?

Yes, it carries poison from the plants it eats, so it should not be eaten or handled.

?What does the painted grasshopper eat?

Mostly poisonous milkweed plants called aak, and also many other plants.

?How big is a painted grasshopper?

It is about 4,3 to 6,1 centimetres long.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Poekilocerus pictus
Group
Grasshoppers and crickets
Family
Pyrgomorphidae
Classification
Insecta > Orthoptera > Pyrgomorphidae
Lives on
Asia
Also known as
Aak grasshopper, Ak grasshopper

Where the facts come from

  1. Poekilocerus pictus (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Haneesh K M.. CC0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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