GRASSHOPPER DAY

My friend of the following photograph ...

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... well, it looks like she's carefully observing the ordinary grass ... or something to small even for this enlargeable shot ... when in reality, she is not here for the plants ... and the creatures she is stalking and trying to catch on camera are pretty big ... for an insect at least ...

... but they are kind of invisible in this surrounding. Their camouflage works very well among the mix of green and dried out straw and blades of grass.

This is the Acrida ungarica, commonly known as cone-headed grasshopper, nosed grasshopper, and Mediterranean slant - faced grasshopper ...

... and this is the brown version of this species.

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Being brown or green looks like an equally effective way of disappearing from sight in this pattern made of fresh and dried out plants ...

... so the more vivid, green version of Acrida ungarica is equally difficult to spot ...

... and make to stand out on photograph.

To show great camouflage is always a challenging task, the animal still has to be visible for the photograph to be attractive and interesting ... but its "invisibility" must also somehow be there, a part of the picture.

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Hope that you'll find these shots relatively successful :) taking account of what I just said about visibility and invisibility.

This cone-headed, slant - faced species is the main subject of the post ... because ... because is pretty fascinating, don't you think so? But ...

... we saw also some other, more conventional looking grasshopper species on the meadow that day ...

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... and they were all well camouflaged in shades of brown and green ... with the occasional small, vividly red details which didn't reveal the animal. I don't know the name of this species.

This looks a lot like the Aiolopus strepens grasshopper ...

... but I'm far from sure.

Here is an up close look at another camouflaged species unknown to me.

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And that's it - I have to jump to the grocery store :) bye - bye ...
As always in these posts on HIVE, all the photographs are my work.