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Sticker of Carolina grasshopper
Bug card No. 0240 of 1,500

Carolina grasshopper

Dissosteira carolina
Eats: PlantsGrasshoppers and cricketsGardens and meadows6 legs

The Carolina grasshopper is a big grasshopper that is grey or brown, the colour of dust and gravel. When it sits on a dirt road, it is almost invisible. But when it flies, it flashes black wings with yellow edges and floats along like a butterfly.

Lives in
Southern Canada and most of the United States, on dirt roads, paths and weedy grassland
Length
3.2 to 5.8 cm (1.3 to 2.3 in)
females are bigger than males
Wingspan
7.5 to 10 cm (3 to 4 in)
Top speed
about 13 km/h (8.1 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It does not bite or sting people.
What does it eat?
It eats grasses and weeds, like brome grass, wheat, barley and dandelions.
For real!Photo of Carolina grasshopper
Picture by Charles J. Sharp. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Carolina grasshopper about 5.8 cm long (2.3 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)A banana about 18 cm (7.1 in)

How wide are its wings?

Carolina grasshopper wings about 10 cm tip to tip (4 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)A banana about 18 cm (7.1 in)
as long as 10 grains of rice in a rowas long as 2 toy building bricks in a rowwings as wide as your handcould run across a dinner table in 0.3 secondsmoves 62 times its own body length every second

How big is Carolina grasshopper compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

When it takes off, it shows its black and yellow wings in less than a hundredth of a second, so it seems to appear out of nowhere.

2

When it lands, it hides its bright wings just as fast and seems to vanish into the ground.

3

Its lazy, bobbing flight makes people think it is a butterfly.

4

Boys hover above bare ground to show off to girls, and they can also make a soft, quiet call.

5

While flying, its wings beat more than 30 times a second.

you asked

Most asked questions about Carolina grasshopper

?Why is it called the road-duster?

Because it loves dirt roads and paths, where it blends in with the dust and gravel.

?Is the Carolina grasshopper a butterfly?

No. It is a grasshopper, but its dark wings and floppy flight make people think it is a butterfly.

?How big is a Carolina grasshopper?

It is about 3 to 6 centimetres long, and its open wings can be up to 10 centimetres across.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Dissosteira carolina
Group
Grasshoppers and crickets
Family
Acrididae
Classification
Insecta > Orthoptera > Acrididae
Lives on
North America
Also known as
Carolina locust, Black-winged grasshopper, Road-duster, Quaker

Where the facts come from

  1. Dissosteira carolina (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Charles J. Sharp. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at hello@bugwiki.app and we will fix it.

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