Grasshopper Vocabulary

Grasshopper Vocabulary

Abdomen - The third or last division of the insect body, other than the head or thorax.

Ambient temperature - The temperature of the air surrounding an organism.

Antenna - A pair of sensory structures on the head.

Appendages - A limb, as an arm or leg in mammals.

Archiving - Collecting and preserving specimens for future reference.

Band-winged - The hind wings of this grasshopper are brightly colored with a band of different color along the edge.

Basking - To expose the body to sunlight and warmth.

Biomass - The amount of living matter in a unit area or volume of a habitat; total animal or plant material produced in a season.

Camouflage - Colors designed to hide, conceal or deceive.

Carnivorous - Feeding on animal tissue, flesh-eating.

Community - Group of interacting organisms in a particular ecosystem.

Consumer - An organism that must feed upon organic material to obtain energy. They depend on other organisms for food.

Control - A check used to verify results in a scientific experiment.

Crepitation - A sound produced by certain grasshoppers during flight.

Data - Factual material; information.

Diversity - Number of different kinds of species in a particular habitat; a measure of biological differences.

Dorsal - Situated or near the back (for most animals this is the top side); opposite of ventral.

Ecology - The study of the relationships of living things to one another and the environment.

Ecosystem - A community of living organisms, their physical environment, and climate in a given area.

Entomologist - A specialist in the branch of biology that deals with insects.

Exoskeleton - The hard outside covering of an insect.

Fauna - Animals or animal life of a region or ecosystem.

Femur - The “thigh” or most stout segment of the insect leg.

Food web - The pathway of food sources between communities of different organisms where energy and nutrients are passed from one organism to another.

Forewings - The front pair of wings, on top of the hind wings when closed.

Forage - To search for and feed on plant or animal material.

Forbs - Plants other than grasses; broadleaf herbaceous plants.

Frass - Insect excrement.

Graze - To feed on plant tissue.

Habitat - The place where a plant or animal naturally lives or grows.

Head - The first division of the insect body, followed by the thorax and the abdomen.

Herbivore - An animal that feeds on plants.

Hind wings - The second pair of wings, usually the larger wings, but folded and hidden when the grasshopper is at rest.

Hypothesis - A potential explanation for a condition or set of facts that can be tested through further investigation.

Key - A series of descriptions which allows you to identify the group an insect belongs to.

Molt - To shed or cast off the outer layer of skin.

Nutrients - Food substances that promote growth and cell repair.

Nymph - A young, immature insect that resembles the adult, except in wing development and reproductive capability.

Organism - Any living individual plant or animal.

Ovipositor - The structure at the end of the abdomen in females used to deposit eggs.

Population - Group of organisms of the same species living in a particular region.

Predator - An organism that hunts and kills other animals for food.

Prey - An animal hunted or caught for food.

Producer - An organism that makes its own food through photosynthesis; plants.

Quantitative - How much there is of something you can measure and represent with numbers.

Random sample - A sample area chosen without bias.

Sample - A representative part of a larger whole.

Sampling - Selecting a small part for inspection or analysis.

Slant-faced - A grasshopper with a head shaped like a cone with the point on the top.

Species - A class of individuals having common attributes and designated by a common name.

Specimen - One or part that is typical of the group or whole.

Spur-throated - Having a small peg, spine or spur between the front pair of legs, usually visible with the naked eye.

Stridulation - In grasshoppers, the sound produced by rubbing the inner surface of the hind femur on the edges of the forewing.

Thorax - The second of the three main body segments of an insect.

Tibia - The part of the insect leg connected to the femur.

Transect - A straight line where observations or data are taken.

Tympanum - The eardrum-like organ on the side of the abdomen in grasshoppers.

Wing pads - Partly developed wings attached to the thorax, usually seen in immature grasshoppers (exceptions: several species of adults have shortened or pad-like wings).