Valanga nigricornis – Javanese grasshopper – Belalang Kayu

Common names:
English: Javanese Grasshopper, Shorthorned Grasshopper
Indonesian: Belalang Kayu, Belalang Kunyit

I found some of these grasshopper nymphs in the backyard in Jonggol, West Java. I watch them growing day by day until they become adult grasshoppers.

Grasshoppers of this kind usually consumed at my place. It taste pretty good.

Scientific Classification of Valanga nigricornis – Javanese Grasshopper – Belalang kayu

Domain Eukaryota Whittaker & Margulis, 1978 – eukaryotes / lifeforms with nucletic cells

Kingdom Animalia C. Linnaeus, 1758 – animals

Subkingdom Bilateria (Hatschek, 1888) Cavalier-Smith, 1983 – bilaterians

Branch Protostomia Grobben, 1908 – protostomes

Infrakingdom Ecdysozoa A.M.A. Aguinaldo et al., 1997 ex T. Cavalier-Smith, 1998 – ecdysozoans

Superphylum Panarthropoda Cuvier

Phylum Arthropoda Latreille, 1829 – arthropods

Subphylum Mandibulata Snodgrass, 1938

Infraphylum Atelocerata Heymons, 1901

Superclass Panhexapoda

Class Insecta C. Linnaeus, 1758 – insects

Subclass Dicondylia

Infraclass Pterygota – winged Insects

Superorder Orthopterida

Order Orthoptera Latreille, 1793 – locusts, katydids, crickets, grasshoppers

Suborder Caelifera Ander, 1939 – short-horned grasshoppers

Infraorder Acrididea

Superfamily Acridoidea (MacLeay, 1821) Burmeister, 1839

Family Acrididae MacLeay, 1821 – grasshoppers

Subfamily Cyrtacanthacridinae W.F. Kirby, 1902

Tribe Cyrtacanthacridini

Genus Valanga Uvarov, 1923

Species V. nigricornis

Botanical/Scientific name: Valanga nigricornis (H. Burmeister, 1838)

references:

• http://www.fobi.web.id/v/insect/f-acr/val-nig
• en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Scientific_classification
• taxonomicon.taxonomy.nl/TaxonTree.aspx?id=973473&tree=0.1
• http://www.biolib.cz/en/taxonposition/id396220/
• en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acrididae
• http://www.pestinfo.org/Literature/lit73.htm

I didn’t know how the grasshopper losing its hind legs or one of the antennae. I left the house for several days and the grasshopper were still a nymph. And when I returned, the grasshoppers already looked like this, an adult grasshopper and disabled. Maybe something happens during the molting process.

Photos of Valanga nigricornis – Javanese Grasshopper – Belalang kayu were taken using a camera phone Sony Ericsson K800i in Jonggol, West Java, Indonesia.

source: Life in the Backyard