slant-faced grasshopper skin

Class: Hexapoda (animals with six legs - includes all insects)
Order: Orthoptera (grasshoppers, katydids and crickets)
    ortho = straight and ptera = wings
Family: Acrididae (short-horned grasshoppers)
Picture: empty skin shed by juvenile slant-faced grasshopper (possibly Mermiria bivittata)
Date: 2001 August 14
Place: Guadalupe Mountains National Park
    top of Bear Canyon Trail

This picture shows the skin left behind by a juvenile grasshopper when it molted - the skin is now empty and appears translucent. You can see the outer form of the insect before it molted - only the region of the back, torn open during the process, is disrupted. One antenna is drooped along the profile of the face. Spines are evident on the back leg that is in focus. The skin is hanging with its legs wrapped around a blade of grass.

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