Aularches

Aularches miliaris is a grasshopper found in south and southeast Asia. It is protected by powerful chemical defences, and its warning colour signals its foul taste.

Aularches
Aularches miliaris at Mangunan Orchard, Dlingo, Bantul, Yogyakarta 07.jpg
Scientific classification e
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Orthoptera
Family: Pyrgomorphidae
Subfamily: Pyrgomorphinae
Tribe: Taphronotini
Genus: Aularches
Stål, 1873
Species:
A. miliaris
Binomial name
Aularches miliaris
Synonyms
  • Gryllus conspersus Houttuyn, 1813
  • Gryllus punctatus Drury, 1770
  • Gryllus scabiosus Fabricius, 1793
  • Acrydium verrucosus De Geer, 1773
Aularches miliaris, showing some foam

When it is disturbed or grabbed, it makes a sharp rasping noise with its thoracic segments. Then, if its thorax is pinched, it gives off a toxic foam.[2][3] It squirts a clear viscous mucus with unpleasant smell and a bitter taste, faintly alkaline, with many bubbles. This foam comes out as a strong jet from openings in the thorax, and more gently from other openings in the body (ten in total). The foam heaps up around the insect and partly covers it.[2]

Colouring and behaviour

The head and thorax are dark green with a canary-yellow band on the side. The leathery front wings are green with many yellow spots; the legs are blue, with a yellow serrated pattern on the hind legs. The abdomen is black with bright red bands.[2]

Like most noxious animals, it is very visible and slow-moving on vegetation.[2] It pays to advertise, and it does not need to hide.

Aularches Media

References

  1. Kirby, W.F. (1914). The fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Orthoptera. London: Taylor and Francis.
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Hingston R.W.G. (1927). "The liquid-squirting habit of oriental grasshoppers". Transactions of the Entomological Society of London. 75: 65–69. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2311.1927.tb00060.x.
  3. (2013) Aularches miliaris miliaris (Linnaeus, 1758) from Orthoptera Species File (OSF) Online. Accessed on 2013-01-29.

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