Acrotylus Digging Grasshoppers Acrotylus species

Acrotylus are a genus of digging or burrowing grasshoppers. This handsome monstrosity is Acrotylus insubricus, native to North and West Africa, the Canary Islands, part of Mediterranean Europe and part of western Asia. This one was in Tenerife. They like wallowing in moist mud or sand.

There is another species of digging grasshopper looking similar and with a similar distribution: Acrotylus longipes, the Yellow-winged Digging Grasshopper. It has yellow on its hind wings (not visible) rather than red like A. insubricus and A. patruelis, the Slender (Red-winged) Burrowing Grasshopper. The Yellow-winged also lacks bristles on its legs, unlike the other two mentioned.

This grasshopper looks similar to the above but with a slightly different pronutum (pattern and raised shape) and non-banded antennae. It may be the same species or another species in the Acrotylus genus. It was on moist sands in southeastern Kazakhstan.