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Sticker of Tree locust
Bug card No. 4417 of 4,939

Tree locust

Anacridium moestum
Eats: PlantsGrasshoppers and cricketsGardens and meadows6 legs

The tree locust is a big, slender grasshopper from southern Africa. Its body is mottled reddish brown or grey, and its front wings are speckled green. Unlike most grasshoppers, it likes to live up in trees and bushes.

Lives in
Southern Africa, in trees and bushes on grassland with acacias
Length
5 to 9 cm (2 to 3.5 in)
Top speed
about 16 km/h (9.9 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It cannot sting, so you can just watch it.
What does it eat?
It eats the leaves of acacias, gum trees and other trees and bushes.
For real!Photo of Tree locust
Picture by JMK. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Tree locust about 9 cm long (3.5 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 3 toy building bricks in a rowcould run across a dinner table in 0.2 secondsmoves 49 times its own body length every second

How big is Tree locust compared to YOU?

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

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

When it opens its back wings, they are pale blue with a black band.

2

Its back legs have purple shins.

3

Its babies, called hoppers, are yellowish green.

4

Its eyes and face have stripes that run up and down.

5

It can sometimes damage crops and fruit trees, but it only forms big swarms once in a while.

you asked

Most asked questions about Tree locust

?How big is the tree locust?

It is 5 to 9 centimetres long, a really big grasshopper.

?What does the tree locust eat?

Leaves of trees and bushes such as acacias and gum trees.

?Is the tree locust dangerous?

No. It cannot sting or hurt people.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Anacridium moestum
Named by
Serville, 1838
Group
Grasshoppers and crickets
Family
Acrididae
Classification
Insecta > Orthoptera > Acrididae
Lives on
Africa
Also known as
Camouflaged tree locust

Where the facts come from

  1. Anacridium moestum (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 JMK. 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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More from the same group: Grasshoppers and crickets

Also at home here: Gardens and meadows

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