Rufous-legged Grasshopper (Xenocatantops humilis)

Today at around 1 pm, I saw this beautiful grasshopper sitting on a leaf. The structure of this insect with black spots on its green body is quite interesting. I was able to take only 3 macro photos of it, then it jumped and disappeared.

Later, with the help of the iNaturalist app, I was able to learn more about it, which I am sharing with you today.

Name and identification:
According to the app information, its common English name is **Rufous-legged Grasshopper. Its scientific name is Xenocatantops humilis and it is an insect belonging to the Xenocatantops (Genus).

Habitat and habitat:
This grasshopper is native to South and Southeast Asia. They are found in abundance in our Bangladesh, India, Nepal and surrounding areas. They usually like to live in tall grass forests, shrubs, open fields, crop fields and orchards.

​Food:
They are completely herbivorous. Their main food is various types of grass, young leaves of trees and crop leaves.

​Harmful aspects:
They are quite harmful insects for those of us who do farming or gardening. They chew on young leaves of trees and make them brittle. When their number increases in the field, the normal growth of crops is hindered and the farmer suffers a lot.

​Beneficial aspects:
Although they damage crops, they play a great role in the food chain of nature. They are a very favorite food of other animals in nature such as various types of birds, spiders, lizards and frogs. Many animals survive by eating these grasshoppers. In addition, the feces they leave after eating leaves mixes with the soil and acts as a natural fertilizer.

​Although harmful to crops, there is no way to deny the role of small insects like them in maintaining the balance of nature.

I learned about them from various sites including iNaturalist, Wikipedia and Google.

(All posts are written in Bengali and translated into English using Google Translate.)
.
.