Palma Stick Grasshopper
Calling Spain’s Canary Islands their home for a few millennia, Palma stick grasshopper females produce a beguiling song to announce their reproductive receptivity through stridulation, the rubbing of two parts of its body together. These elegant grasshoppers have compound eyes and use vibrations to locate other individuals, but they can only feed on the leaves of a single bush, Euphorbia lamarcki. Their habitat is chiefly threatened by overgrazing and land use changes driven by tourism. Climate change has altered the fragile micro-climate of the Canary Islands over the last thirty years, making wildfires more common. Listen closely for the Palma stick grasshopper’s siren song, for it may soon be a thing of the past.
Art by Josh Bernstein