CLOSED: ID on Texas HUGE grasshopper

This grasshopper is about 5" long, its the largest I have ever seen. Can anyone identify it?

Thanks

Looks to be a type of lubber grasshopper. We have the red and orange ones here, and they are my garden nemesis! My step-dad is from Texas, and he said he and his brother used to get paid PER killed lubber when they were young because they did so much damage on the farm!

I have a flat rock I call the Lubber Killer...I have to hop up and down on it several times after dropping it from about 3 feet...often, it takes several rounds of this behavior before they die...it's no wonder my neighbors think I'm odd!

http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/go/238/

Even if it's not this exact one, it's probably in the same genus, or at least same family, as the link above.


This message was edited Jul 12, 2009 5:35 PM

Oh, I just did a search for lubber, and two types came up. This one looks more like your photo: http://davesgarden.com/guides/bf/go/4915/

They are difficult to kill when no longer in the nymph stage. I try to kill as many as possible when they're nymphs, at which point the easiest way is to either stomp them, or soapy water (they cluster in spring, often on crinums, so I cut the entire leaves off, then gently place the entire leaf in a bucket of soapy water...manage to kill dozens ata time like this).

Emma, I don't think that's it, this one has a yellow stripe down both sides of its back.

I think I may have id'd it. Looks like a Obscura.spotted bird grasshopper. Any body agree?

I don't know, but ROFL at the mental image of Emma jumping up and down on the rock with neighbors peering out their windows. Hey, if it works, go for it!

http://www.pbase.com/ronnie_14187/image/49226334

Here is a link to Obscura.

It's the only easy way to kill them! I've even tried cutting one of their heads off for a "quick" death, but it's like something out of a B-rated horror flick...I came back home from work 5 hours later, and the body and the head were both still alive! So, I grabbed my trusty rock and finished the poor bugger's parts off... They do such an extreme amount of damage to my hippeastrums, crinums and hymenocallis, that I can't allow them to live.

I couldn't get the link to the obscura to open, but did find this one: http://arizonensis.org/sonoran/fieldguide/arthropoda/schistocerca_lineata.html ~ Datura's ID does look a lot more like it!

I think so, too. They certainly are colorful creatures, too bad they are so harmful! Datura, that's a fantastic picture you took (I'm assuming it was you who took it), you should post it in the bug files!

Edit: Once you're positive on the ID, that is.

This message was edited Jul 12, 2009 8:22 PM

i've had very good luck using spinosad for grasshopper control. it works like Bt in that it upsets their digestive system and they die after eating whatever plant has been sprayed with it. this is the first year my crinums aren't eaten up!

Ky, I took the pic, its my other hobby. I will post as soon I can positively ID it. I tried to find it yesterday so I can get a pic of its back which would probably make ID easier. I will keep trying to get another pic.
Thanks