These fantastically colourful insects are commonly known as MALAY GHOST GRASSHOPPERS and they originate from south east Asian countries including Malaysia and Thailand.

As you can see above they do have the most wonderful combination of colours, from a yellow/green/black head to green wings covered in yellow spots to a very distinctive orange and black banded abdomen!  These colours are used as a 'danger' warning to predators so that they will not attempt to eat these insects so, whereas many species of grasshopper use their colours for camouflage and to stay hidden away, these insects are not trying to stay concealed at all!

The 'danger' which these grasshoppers present is in the form of a chemical defence system based on chemicals found in their native foodplant.  In captivity, where they are eating non-toxic plants such as oak and bramble leaves, they do not have a dangerous chemical defence system but can still create a froth of bubbles from behind their head if they are disturbed or feel threatened at all.  Apparently this froth smells like peanuts, something I have not yet experienced! 

Thankfully they are reluctant to jump when handled carefully, making them another fantastic addition to my insect collection!

On the morning of February 5th 2012 I had an exciting find when I discovered that my first ever babies (nymphs) of this species had hatched!  Here is one of the tiny nymphs (about 7mm long) shortly after hatching.

On February 21st I found another hatch of nymphs and it was amazing to see that the ones which hatched just 16 days earlier (like the one on the left below) were already significantly larger than those which had just hatched (on the right):

Pictured below are just a very tiny selection of the moulted exoskeletons (exuviae) moulted by the nymphs so far as at March 12th 2012!

Here is just one moulted exuvia, you can clearly see the grasshopper shape in this one!

More pictures will follow here as the nymphs continue to grow and change in the coming weeks...