Alice Springs Fauna •
Giant GrasshopperValanga irregularis nymph Valanga irregularis as prey
The Valanga irregularis whose common name include Giant Grasshopper, Giant Valanga or Hedge Grasshopper is the largest grasshopper in Australia and part of the family Acrididae. This species has a number of other common names including Hedge Grasshopper, Giant Grasshopper and Giant Valanga.
Often seen on their own, they usually live a solitary life.
Pictured is an adult female Giant Grasshopper (Valanga irregularis) photographed in Alice Springs, Northern Territory.
The Giant Grasshopper nymph (Valanga irregularis) starts life as a very small grasshopper, growing through various stage (shedding its hard outer skeleton, in a process called moulting), before the final adult stage.
- Scientific classification
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Arthropoda
- Subphylum: Hexapoda
- Class: Insecta
- Informal: Pterygotes
- Order: Orthoptera
- Suborder: Caelifera
- Superfamily: Acridoidea
- Family: Acrididae
- Subfamily: Catantopinae
- Tribe: Cyrtacanthacridini
- Genus: Valanga
- Species: Valanga irregularis
Footnote & References
- Many thanks for ID to Matthew Connors and Angus Emmott, members of the Entomology Australia “Invertebratology”, Facebook group, https://www.facebook.com/groups/507004496955277/
- Valanga irregularis (Walker, 1870), Giant Grasshopper, Atlas of Living Australia, https://bie.ala.org.au/species/https://biodiversity.org.au/afd/taxa/ebfeed95-746f-40a6-b453-4e6b78aaabc1
- Giant Grasshopper (Valanga irregularis), iNaturalistAU, https://inaturalist.ala.org.au/taxa/201636-Valanga-irregularis
- Valanga irregularis, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valanga_irregularis (last visited Oct. 30, 2022).
Giant GrasshopperValanga irregularis nymph Valanga irregularis as prey
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