Mean Locust!!
It is strange how things sometimes work. 3 days ago I posted a post on a Grasshopper titled Smilling Scary Face and then on Sunday while visiting a friend and he showing me his vegetable garden I bump into another grasshopper or is it a Locust? In South Africa, we only have one name for a Grasshopper / Locust in my home language Afrikaans, which is "Springkaan" . You can click on the link Grasshopper / Locust to read about the differences. As you can see on the photo above this Grasshopper has quite a mean face!! Below you can see him from the side, it seems to me that this one is still quite young, judging by the short wings.
I find the red and black color combination quite fascinating!! He does not even try to blend into the surroundings. Normally colors like this will indicate to predators that he is poisonous.
Below you can see a side view of the head and neck area. He has a nice shield for protection around the neck area
Just look how he is clinging to the leaf.
A closer look from the top!
Below you can get a view of him sitting on the spinach leaves. I am sure he will grow up nice and strong when eating all these leaves!!
I stay quite close to my friend, but has never seen this type of locust at my home before, but according to my friend he sees them regularly in his garden.
I took these photos with my iPhone, in Pretoria @ my friend's home, in the Gauteng Province of South Africa.
I hope you enjoyed the photos as much as I did taking it.