Grasshoppers - Reproduction And Development

Reproduction and development

Female grasshoppers deposit fertilized eggs in batches in the ground, on the ground, or less commonly, on grass or plant stems. When burying eggs, the female uses four horn-like appendages at the tip of the abdomen, and twists her body and forces her ovipositor into the ground. The desert species Locusta migratoria extends her abdomen from its normal length of 1 in (2.5 cm) to 3.2 in (8 cm) in order to bury her eggs as deep as possible.

In tropical species the eggs hatch after three or four weeks, whereas in temperate climates eggs usually undergo diapause (suspended development) over the winter. Eventually, tiny larvae hatch and burrow to the surface, molting immediately to emerge as undeveloped miniatures of the adult (nymphs). These nymphs may undergo as many as six molts before reaching maturity at an average age of three months.