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 | |
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Scientific classification 
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| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Orthoptera |
| Family: | Pyrgomorphidae |
| Subfamily: | Pyrgomorphinae |
| Tribe: | Taphronotini |
| Genus: | Aularches Stål, 1873 |
| Species: | A. miliaris
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| Binomial name | |
| Aularches miliaris | |
| Synonyms | |
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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
Adult in Kerala, South India
References
- ↑ Kirby, W.F. (1914). The fauna of British India, including Ceylon and Burma. Orthoptera. London: Taylor and Francis.
- ↑ 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.
- ↑ (2013) Aularches miliaris miliaris (Linnaeus, 1758) from Orthoptera Species File (OSF) Online. Accessed on 2013-01-29.