Singing Grasshoppers

How do grasshoppers sing?

A more attractive feature of some grasshoppers is their ability to sing. It is the males that sing, and they do it to attract female mates, or to warn off other males.

There are two different mechanisms for singing:

In the one used by the Short-horned grasshoppers, there is a comb-like structure with a row of teeth on the inside of the hind leg, which gets rubbed against a ridge on the wing (a bit like running a stick along a fence very quickly). This produces a ‘chirp’ sound.

The other mechanism used by Crickets and Long-horned grashoppers, there is again a comb-and-ridge mechanism, however, the structures are on the left and right forewings, which rub over each other.

Hold your mouse over the grasshopper pics to hear some of the sounds that grasshoppers make.