Bugs, Part 6: Horse Lubbers

Photo by Ned Harris

Photo by Angie Perryman

Grasshoppers are insects, but not true bugs, even though they go through 'simple/incomplete/false' metamorphosis. Similar to the familiar: 'All cacti are succulents, but not all succulents are cacti'; 'all true bugs are insects that undergo incomplete metamorphosis, but not all insects that undergo incomplete metamorphosis are true bugs.' (You might want to read that twice.)
Horse Lubber grasshoppers (Taeniopoda eques) are so called because they are thought to look like a medieval knight's armored horse. You might want to remember this fun fact from the fireflyforest link above: "...despite their own foul taste, Horse Lubbers will happily engage in a little cannibalism." 
Tomorrow, I'll treat you to a little taxonomy (but no cannibalism).