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Sticker of Violet-winged grasshopper
Bug card No. 4596 of 4,939

Violet-winged grasshopper

Tropidacris collaris
Eats: PlantsGrasshoppers and cricketsRainforests and jungles6 legs

The violet-winged grasshopper is a giant grasshopper from South America. When it flies, it flashes bright blue wings. With its wings spread, it measures about 18 centimetres, wider than a grown-up's hand.

Lives in
South America east of the Andes, from Colombia to central Argentina, in rainforests and dry open land
Length
5 to 10 cm (2 to 4.1 in)
Wingspan
18 cm (7.1 in)
Top speed
about 15 km/h (9.3 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It does not bite or sting. Its young are thought to be poisonous to eat, so it is just for looking.
What does it eat?
It eats many kinds of plants, including crops, plantation trees and garden plants.
For real!Photo of Violet-winged grasshopper
Picture by NasserHalaweh. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Violet-winged grasshopper about 10 cm long (4.1 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)

How wide are its wings?

Violet-winged grasshopper wings about 18 cm tip to tip (7.1 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)A banana about 18 cm (7.1 in)A house cat about 50 cm (20 in)
as long as 3 toy building bricks in a rowabout as long as your handwings as wide as your handcould run across a dinner table in 0.2 secondsmoves 40 times its own body length every second

How big is Violet-winged grasshopper compared to YOU?

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

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

Females are much bigger than males, up to about 10 centimetres long.

2

Its young cannot fly and live in groups. They are black, red and yellow to warn that they taste bad.

3

A scientist who tasted one of the young said it was very bitter.

4

In 2014 one landed on the arm of the football player James Rodríguez during a World Cup match.

5

Insect fans like to keep it as a pet.

you asked

Most asked questions about Violet-winged grasshopper

?How big is the violet-winged grasshopper?

Males are about 5 to 7 centimetres long, females about 8.5 to 10.5 centimetres, and the wingspan is about 18 centimetres.

?What colour are the violet-winged grasshopper's wings?

Usually bright blue in flight, though sometimes greyish or greenish.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Tropidacris collaris
Group
Grasshoppers and crickets
Family
Romaleidae
Classification
Insecta > Orthoptera > Romaleidae
Lives on
South America
Also known as
Blue-winged grasshopper

Where the facts come from

  1. Tropidacris collaris (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 NasserHalaweh. CC BY-SA 4.0, 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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