The Post Oak Grasshoppers!

By Margo ‘Mac’ McDowell, Fort Bend County Master Volunteer Coordinator

 

According to Ed Riley, Entomologist and Associate Curator of the Texas A & M Univ. Insect Collection, Bryan-College Station is about to experience the first big outbreak of these grasshoppers in 14 years! Dr. John Jackman, Texas Cooperative Extension Entomologist says “I didn’t see these for the first 25 years of my career,” and he “would have told you there weren’t any

grasshoppers that chewed on trees.”

 

According to Dr. Jackman, these grasshoppers first started growing in numbers about five years ago, then last year, exploded from Dallas to almost Corpus Christi. These colorful creatures are not afraid of heights, but they are huge eaters of post oaks, water oaks and blackjack oaks.

 

The majority of adult post oak grasshoppers have short wings and are flightless, but they love to climb up trees and houses. Dr. Spencer Behmer, Entomologist, indicates in the AgNews newsletter that hordes of grasshoppers are bad enough, but even more obnoxious is their frass, which often leaves a near-permanent stain. The stain is the result of tannins—the compound used in tanning leather—which are found in oak leaves.

 

The grasshoppers become adults in late April and from early May to mid-June the females lay their eggs in the soil. Dr. Behmer would like to research their life cycle and behavior. If you would like to help him find out more, or if you have these grasshoppers, email Dr. Behmer at s-behmer@tamu.edu with general information about where they are, including a zip code, and a nearby major intersection. If possible get a digital photo of the grasshopper so he can positively identify it.

 

To learn more visit:

http://insects.tamu.edu/fromthefield/postoakgh.html

http://agnews.tamu.edu/dailynews/stories/ENTO/Apr1707a.htm

http://behmerlab.tamu.edu/index.html

 

Texas Agricultural Experiment Station photo by

Dr. Spencer Behmer