White-fronted Grasshopper - Decticus albifrons F.
A large insect of brown or green color, blending in with the vegetation. Very light front part of the head. Size: 50—60 mm. Antennae are very thin, longer than the body. The female is easily distinguished from the male — at the end of her abdomen, she has a long, sword-like ovipositor measuring 20—25 mm.
The larvae hatch in spring and molt from 4 to 6 times throughout their life cycle. After the first molt, wing buds appear as elongated lower hind corners of the pronotum and the metanotum, directed downwards and backwards. After the third molt, the wing buds are located on the back, take on a triangular shape, and longitudinal veins appear on them. After the last molt, they develop wings.
Grasshoppers often have an appearance and coloration similar to that of the leaves or other parts of the plants they inhabit. Camouflage is achieved through the strong expansion of the forewings, as well as their specific venation. Depending on their coloration, they imitate either healthy or dying and dead leaves.
The sound apparatus is located on the forewings. On the right forewing, there is a "mirror" in the form of a round thin transparent membrane, surrounded by a thick stridulatory vein that forms a frame. On the left forewing, the mirror is opaque, matte, and quite dense. The surrounding stridulatory vein is thick with teeth. This vein acts as a bow, while the "mirror" serves as a resonator during stridulation. When stridulating, the grasshopper raises and spreads its forewings, then moves them in a vibrating motion from side to side, causing the teeth of the "bow" to rub against the frame of the "mirror" on the right forewing.
Each species of grasshoppers has a specific set of sounds they produce. In most cases, only males possess the sound apparatus, although there are species where females also stridulate. The persistent, chirping song of the male, which sounds at temperatures above +23 °C, resembles the song of a bird more than that of an insect. However, the sounds of males are not only limited to calling songs. Various sounds serve as warning signals, threats to rivals, and in general, males can "argue," "talk," and "quarrel."
Similar species: The Egyptian locust and migratory locust appear similar but have short antennae.
Feeds on both animal and plant food, sometimes damaging cereal crops and fruit orchards. Active mainly during the day.
Larvae and adults damage crops of peas, lentils, and other legumes, potatoes, tobacco and other nightshades, sugar beets, poppies, cucumbers, pumpkins, watermelons, melons, onions, medicinal sage, mint, and other labiates, apple trees, pears, plums, blackthorns, cherries, sweet cherries, apricots, peaches, raspberries, blackberries, garden and wild strawberries, strawberries, hawthorn, rose hips, various essential oil plants, especially lavender, grapes, red and black currants, gooseberries, as well as hayfields and pastures. They damage crops of cereal grains, corn, tobacco, peas, forage legumes, cotton, sunflowers, melons, vegetable and technical crops, and others. They cause significant harm to sesame crops and the ripe fruits of many stone fruits. They severely damage corn, grain (particularly dryland barley crops), flax, and hayfields. The greatest damage occurs to seedlings and young plants, as they eat leaves or completely destroy plants; in cereals, they also gnaw at immature grains, and in sunflowers — immature seeds; in corn, they often eat the ears, and in sesame — immature capsules; in legumes, besides leaves, they damage pods, and in grapes — berries; in fruit trees — ripe fruits.
Insects of Kyrgyzstan
