As I looked through my macro lens, I felt for a moment like a matador. The grasshopper in my viewfinder had lowered its head and was preparing to charge me, trying its best to gore me with its fearsome fluted horns. I wasn’t dressed for the part and had no little red cape to bravely wave at the charging grasshopper.
In reality, I am not sure what kind of a grasshopper this is. It looks a little like a Slant-faced Grasshopper, but I have never before seen one with such unusual, horn-shaped antennae. This grasshopper hopped up onto this stalk of grass as I was searching for dragonflies this past weekend. I don’t know much about the developmental cycle of grasshoppers and wonder if this might be a nymph.
In the absence of any scientific information, I think I’ll informally call this the Dual-unicorn Grasshopper, because the shape and pattern of the antennae remind me of so many of the depictions I have seen of the mythical unicorn.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 