Grasshopper Explosion

Entomologists are wondering whether numbers of post oak grasshoppers will explode this year like they did last year.

"I didn't see them for the first 25 years of my career," said John Jackman, an entomologist from the Texas Cooperative Extension. "I would have told you there weren't any grasshoppers that chewed on trees." Five years ago, he said, the grasshoppers' numbers started growing, and last year, exploded in areas from Dallas to near Corpus Christi.  

Entomologist Spencer Behmer, of the Texas Agricultural Experiment Station, is studying the grasshoppers’ behavior and life cycle. The flightless grasshoppers feed mostly on post oak trees, but Behmer has heard reports of them feeding on other oak and hickory trees, even defoliating them.

In early April, as the eggs hatch nymphs (shown above) begin emerging. The little ones will go through at least five developmental stages before becoming adults, all the while munching on leaves. From early May to mid-June, the females lay their eggs in the soil. A female typically lays five to six eggs at a time in a pod, and will produce two to four pods over her lifetime. In the spring, when post oak leaves begin to emerge, the eggs hatch and the nymphs begin to climb trees to feed—and the cycle continues.

—LiveScience Staff

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Credit: Spencer Behmer/Texas Agricultural Experiment Station