The kingdom of insects: the largest grasshopper in the world

Naturalists are well aware of whatthe number of the most incredible animals and plants is on our planet. Many of the most "extravagant" species are found among insects. These include the largest grasshopper in the world, the uet.

We used to think that among the insects the largest species are found only among spiders, but they can be given odds by odds.

By their size, they surpass even many species of locusts, which are also difficult to classify as small species. Unfortunately, the territory of our country is not inhabited by the uet.

So, the largest grasshopper can grow to10 cm in length, and together with the paws and the tail, and in general can quite "stretch" by 15-20 cm. As for the weight, the large uefa is often fattened up to 70 g. It would seem that not so much, that's only the average the size of a sparrow rarely weighs more than 40 g.

By the way, their generic name can be translated into Russian as a "horrific grasshopper", and this largest grasshopper lives on the coast of New Zealand.

From time immemorial the natives feared and revered them, sinceeven by local standards, such dimensions are difficult to attribute to the usual. In New Zealand, there are about 11 species, many of whose representatives grow even more than 15 cm.

Not surprisingly, they enjoy such popularity among insect lovers who keep their homes on the rights of pets.

It is worth one time only to see how such a giant,sitting on the man's finger, with an appetite gnawing a huge carrot, you can immediately decide how you treat them. Someone this very large grasshopper immediately falls into the soul, but someone runs away screaming.

Outwardly, almost all of the Ueta are reminiscent ofthe disgust of a beefy common grasshopper, only without wings. But there is one important difference: our insects on the paws do not have such healthy and massive thorns, which are used as an excellent weapon of self-defense.

By the way, why representatives of this familyin general have become so large? The fact is that their ancestors came to New Zealand in those distant times when it was not yet an isolated archipelago from Australia.

Then there lived only the smallest mammals, there were no predators, but the food literally lay underfoot. It is not surprising that the evolutionary process made such a huge of ordinary insects.

As for capriciousness to the conditions of life,it is practically none: the largest grasshopper in the world can live in the forest, in the marshland, in the mountains or even in the city park. Many uethas are predators who are willing to bite a lizard or even a mouse, but about a third of the species eat vegetarian food.

Without them, the flora of New Zealand would have to be tight, since they play a significant role in spreading seeds from the plants and fruits they eat.

Only by a year and a half grasshoppers reach sexual maturity, and the female soon after laying off lays about 300 eggs, after which it dies.

Unfortunately, in the wild, the largest grasshoppers in the world can soon disappear. The fact is that they are exterminated by feral cats, dogs and rats that have fallen on the archipelago with European ships.