About Podisma pedestris (Linnaeus, 1758)
This grasshopper species has the scientific name Podisma pedestris (Linnaeus, 1758). Adult males of Podisma pedestris reach a length of 17–25 millimetres (0.67–0.98 in), while adult females grow to 24–30 millimetres (0.94–1.18 in) long. Adults can be found from mid-June through October in dry meadows, rocky mountain slopes, alpine pastures, and forest clearings. Podisma pedestris feeds on grasses and herbaceous plants, and females lay their eggs on the ground. The base body coloration of this species ranges from dark brownish to yellowish, with black and yellow transverse stripes along the sides of the abdomen. Males have brighter, more intense colors and more extensive black markings than females. A dark longitudinal stripe extends from the eye to the pronotum. The femora of the hind legs are reddish, and the tibiae are bluish with white spines. In most individuals of both sexes, the wings are vestigial, oval, very short, and incapable of flight, a condition called brachyptery, where they resemble the wings of a nymph. Rarely, this species can have fully developed wings that allow flight. This small grasshopper is distributed across most of Europe, the eastern Palearctic realm, and extends into temperate mainland East Asia.
