Meadow Grasshopper
Taxonomy
Orthoptera » Caelifera » Acridoidea » Acrididae » Gomphocerinae » Chorthippus parallelus
Status
UK
Distribution Map
Colours show the year of the last record -
| up to 1987 | 1988-97 | 1998 up to present |
Only Recording Scheme datasets are included. Other datasets on the Gateway may hold additional information.
Recordings
Description
Green-coloured but often with brown wings and sometimes entirely brown coloured. Pronotal side-keels only very slightly incurved. Some adult females are a vivid pinkish purple.
Size
10-23 mm
Wings
Males are long-winged, while females are usually short-winged, but a fully winged form occurs (f. explicatus).
Stridulation
Buzzing with a rapid irregular pulse, repeated at varying intervals; similar to Heath Grasshopper but longer and quieter, lasting 3-5 seconds.
Food
Herbivorous, feeding mainly on grasses.
Habitat
Coarse grasses in a wide range of habitats such as sand dunes, saltmarshes, woodland rides, roadside verges, waste ground, valley wetlands and wet grassy moorland. The eggs are laid just below the soil surface.
Phenology
Long season with nymphs hatching in April. Adults appear by June and remain abundant through to September, some may survive into November.