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Sticker of Eastern lubber grasshopper
Bug card No. 0440 of 1,500

Eastern lubber grasshopper

Romalea microptera
Eats: PlantsGrasshoppers and cricketsGardens and meadows6 legs

The eastern lubber grasshopper is a big, chunky grasshopper with bright yellow, orange and black colours. It is one of the largest grasshoppers in the United States. Its wings are so short that it cannot fly, so it walks and climbs instead.

Lives in
Southeastern United States, from North Carolina to Texas and all of Florida
Length
4.3 to 9 cm (1.7 to 3.5 in)
Top speed
about 14 km/h (8.7 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
What does it eat?
Like other grasshoppers it eats plants, and it lives among weeds and grassy fields.
For real!Photo of Eastern lubber grasshopper
Picture by http://www.birdphotos.com. CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Eastern lubber grasshopper about 9 cm long (3.5 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 3 toy building bricks in a rowcould run across a dinner table in 0.3 secondsmoves 43 times its own body length every second

How big is Eastern lubber grasshopper compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

Its bright colours warn birds and other animals that it tastes horrible.

2

It can also hiss loudly to frighten animals that come too close.

3

The babies are black with yellow, orange or red stripes and have no wings at all.

4

Some grown-ups stay all black with stripes, and people call them black diablo.

you asked

Most asked questions about Eastern lubber grasshopper

?Can the eastern lubber grasshopper fly?

No. Its wings are much too short, so it walks and hops.

?How big is an eastern lubber grasshopper?

Males are about 4 to 5.5 centimetres and females 5 to 7 centimetres. A few grow up to 9 centimetres.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Romalea microptera
Group
Grasshoppers and crickets
Family
Romaleidae
Classification
Insecta > Orthoptera > Romaleidae
Lives on
North America
Also known as
Georgia thumper, Florida lubber, Devil's horse

Where the facts come from

  1. Romalea (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 http://www.birdphotos.com. CC BY 3.0, 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.

More from the same group: Grasshoppers and crickets

Also at home here: Gardens and meadows