Koppie foam grasshopper
The koppie foam grasshopper is a big, chunky grasshopper with bright, bold colours. When it is in danger, it makes a bubbly foam that tastes terrible. Its bright colours warn birds and lizards: do not eat me.
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Fun facts
The foam is made from its blood mixed with air pushed out of the little breathing holes on its body.
Some very big females grow to 8 centimetres long.
The shield behind its head is covered in little warts.
Its colours can be very different from one grasshopper to the next, but there is always something bright on it.
Most asked questions about Koppie foam grasshopper
?Is the foam grasshopper poisonous?
Yes. It stores poison from the plants it eats, so animals should not eat it. It is safe to look at.
?Why does the foam grasshopper make foam?
To scare off and poison animals that want to eat it.
?How big is the koppie foam grasshopper?
Males are about 5 centimetres long and females 5 to 7 centimetres.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Dictyophorus spumans
- Group
- Grasshoppers and crickets
- Family
- Pyrgomorphidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Orthoptera > Pyrgomorphidae
- Lives on
- Africa
- Also known as
- Rooibaadjie, African foam grasshopper, Foaming grasshopper
Where the facts come from
- Dictyophorus spumans (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Charles J. Sharp. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same 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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