Short-Horned Grasshoppers (Heteracris pulchra)

Latin Name	Observation Date	Location
Heteracris pulchra	Jun 16, 2026	Natore, Bangladesh

Through macro photography, we can see the beautiful forms of many small creatures around us. When we walk through the grass in the fields and meadows of our country's rural areas, we often see these insects jumping up and down. The insect in the photo taken by your camera is basically a type of grasshopper. They are called 'short-horned grasshoppers' in English because of the small horns on the front of their heads. However, they are also well known as 'splendid grasshoppers' or 'splendid grasshoppers' because of their great physical design and color.

​Scientific name:
These magnificent grasshoppers have a specific scientific name. According to the documentary you provided and the iNaturalist data, the scientific name of this particular species in the photo is Heteracris pulchra. It is a special species belonging to the genus Heteracris, which is a well-known and common grasshopper in our region.

​Family Genus:
According to the scientific classification of biology, they are animals of the Animalia kingdom and the Arthropoda phylum. These insects belonging to the Insecta class are mainly members of the Orthoptera order and the Caelifera suborder. Their family name is Acrididae. This family of grasshoppers is very well known and diverse all over the world. Their genus or genus name is Heteracris.

​Habitat and habitat:
In terms of geographical distribution, these grasshoppers mainly live in the South Asian region. If you look at the map of I-Naturalist provided by you, it is very clear that they have a wide distribution throughout the Indian subcontinent. They are especially found in large numbers in India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and surrounding countries. They usually roam comfortably around grassy plains, open fields, shrubs and crop fields. The brown and greenish color of their bodies provides them with excellent camouflage to blend in with the grass or soil.

​Food:
Like other common grasshoppers, they are completely herbivorous. They usually feed on various types of grass, vines, young branches, and crop leaves. Their mouths are designed in such a way that they are very helpful in chewing hard grass or leaves.

​Reproduction:
Their reproduction process is similar to that of other insects of the Orthoptera order. After mating, adult female grasshoppers usually dig holes in soft or wet soil and lay many eggs at once. After a certain period of time, the eggs hatch and nymphs or baby grasshoppers emerge. These newly born babies look exactly like adult grasshoppers, but they do not have wings. Through several stages of molting, they gradually become full-fledged and winged grasshoppers.

​Benefits:
They play a very important role in the ecosystem or food chain of the environment. In the vast canvas of nature, they mainly work as primary consumers or primary eaters. As the main food of various types of birds, lizards, chameleons, frogs, spiders and other predators, they help a lot in maintaining the balance of nature. Without them, the food chain of nature would be largely unusable.

​Disadvantages:
Although they are not directly harmful to humans or do not have any poison, they can have a negative impact on agriculture. Since they live by eating leaves and grass, if their number increases excessively in the crop field, they can cause extensive damage by eating the leaves of agricultural crops. Especially their attack on rice or other crop fields can be a cause of concern for farmers.

I hope you like the information.

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.) *}

Camera Used	Samsung SM-G973F
F-Stop	F2.4
ISO speed	ISO
Focal length	26mm
Flash	No
Editing app	Lightroom
Photography	(Heteracris pulchra)
Photographer	@mshbd
Location	Natore, Bangladesh

Link to original community
https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/380923637

Latitude	Longitude	Map Link
24.3432	89.1127	https://www.openstreetmap.org/?#map=12/24.3432/89.1127