Slender Gumleaf Grasshopper - Goniaea vocans

Family Acrididae

This page contains pictures and information about the Slender Gum Leaf Grasshoppers that we found in the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia.


Female body length 60mm

The Slender Gumleaf Grasshopper is brown in colour, camouflages as a dry gum leaf. We usually find them on the ground among the dry gum tree leaves when bushwalking in Eucalyptus forest. This species is easily confused with the Gumleaf Grasshopper Goniaea australasiae. Slender Gumleaf Grasshopper has the carina, or the top edge of thorax, lower and less pronounced, and has a distinct cut. The antenna are banded.



Their body colours vary from pale brown to orange brown. This species is the largest in body size within the four Gumleaf Grasshoppers that we found in Brisbane.



Adult is characteristic by the prominent arched crest on thorax, it is sharp, together with the colour, resemble dry gum leaf. We found the above adult grasshopper in the gum tree forest in the conservation area near Alexander Hill in Brisbane in early winter. The grasshopper usually resting on ground among the dead dry leaf.



Both male and female of Gumleaf Grasshoppers are fully winged. Males are smaller in size. When disturbed, they jump and fly about a few meters away. When flying, we saw their bright yellow-orange abdomen and hind wings.







3rd instars


Nymph, 5th instars, body length 30mm

Reference:
1. Grasshopper Country - the Abundant Orthopteroid Insects of Australia, D Rentz, UNSW Press, 1996, p188.
2. A Guide to Australian Grasshoppers and Locusts - DCF Rentz, RC Lewis, YN Su and MS Upton, 2003, p245.