Grasshopper Dissection

Our grasshoppper was a male as it did not have a ovipositer at the end of its abdomen.

My partner and I counted that it had 9 segments in its abdomen.

Here we can see the grasshopper's compound eyes that are used to pick up on motion and basic form and is able to discern the distance between objects.

Here are the labelled parts of the grasshoppers hind jumping legs. It has 6 legs in total, two of which are these longer and stronger hind legs.

These are the spiracles, a series of holes located on either side of the abdomen, they are used for breathing.

My grasshopper specimen, was normal in size and it's skin was very tough and hard to the touch, I was surprised in how fragile the wings were and how the wing underneath was retracting like an accordion.

When I saw the grasshopper cut open, I was surprised by the large amount of brown goo, you can see a one track digestive system, so there is only one tube and no major organs.

After doing this dissection I am curious as to how a grasshopper can fly because to me the wings seemed very small and not at all large enough to support the weight of this grasshopper.