Creature Feature V: Painted Grasshoppers

Here is the next installment of Creature Feature! The subject for this month is a grasshopper we came across frequently when doing fieldwork in Kutch in 2013. Though the piece focuses on its association with milkweed, we also found the insect on other plants that produce toxic sap, like this euphorb:

Here is the nymph of this grasshopper, I think. Not quite as colourful, but still striking.

And saving best for last, here’s a video of the grasshopper munching on milkweed!