Grasshopper Nymphs

Erland R.N. · Post by **Erland R.N.** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 5:11 pm

One of the most spectacular animals I saw on my trip to South Africa in December, was not my favorite subject, dragonflies, or the big wild mammals like elephants.

IT WAS GRASSHOPPERS

I went into some vegetation at a roadside, carefully looking for snakes that would bite me, and found a big group of these lovely colourful creatures:

Mpumalanga, South Africa
5D, 150/2.8 +1.4x, f/11, 1/160 s, iso 800, uncropped

f/14, 1/200 s, iso 1600, slightly cropped

Looking at the wings it's seen that they are nymphs. Boy, they were about 6-8 centimeters long. They make the Danish grashopper fauna look like a complete joke

Erland

MacroLuv · Post by **MacroLuv** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 5:18 pm

WooHoo! Unbelievable! Black grasshoppers!

Are they real?

They look like a plastic toys!

beetleman · Post by **beetleman** » Sun Jan 14, 2007 5:32 pm

They are right up there with the most beautiful hoppers IMO. Very beautiful and your focus and DOF are super nice. Good job Erland.

crocoite · Post by **crocoite** » Mon Jan 15, 2007 2:35 am

One wonders how big the adults would be! Excellent shots Erland.

svalley · Post by **svalley** » Mon Jan 15, 2007 7:58 am

Erland, great shots of an interesting subject.

Moebius · Post by **Moebius** » Mon Jan 15, 2007 8:29 am

Beautiful. Tack on sharp and nice colors. About how big were these?

Ken

Erland R.N. · Post by **Erland R.N.** » Mon Jan 15, 2007 2:24 pm

Thanks for comments. Come to think of it, they looked like toys in real life too :-)

They were 6-8 cm long.

Erland