Patanga japonica — identification & habitat

Patanga japonica is a large East Asian grasshopper that spends the winter as an adult instead of as an egg, so it can be seen even on warm winter days. A dark streak below each eye, like a tear mark, helps identify it. It isn't found in the United States; it lives in Japan, Korea, China, and south into Southeast Asia and India.

Appearance

Appearance: Males are about 1.6–2 in (4–5 cm) long and females about 2–2.4 in (5–6 cm), with the largest females approaching 2.8 in (7 cm). The body is plain tan to reddish brown and finely hairy, with a pale yellow stripe running down the middle of the back and a dark streak below each eye that looks like a tear mark.

Where it lives

Typical habitats: tall grassland
kudzu thickets
field edges
Range: Japan, the Korean Peninsula, China, Taiwan, Vietnam and other parts of Southeast Asia, and India. It has not been recorded in the US.
Preferred conditions: In Japan it is most common in tall, dense grassy and viny growth, such as tangles of kudzu along the edges of fields and woods.

Behavior

Diet: A plant-eater. In Japan, nymphs were mostly found on kudzu, Japanese silver grass, and cogongrass, though in lab tests they could grow on many other plants too.
Activity: In Japan, adults appear in fall and stay active on warm winter days, then live on until early summer.
Overwintering: Adults spend the winter hiding under dead grass and leaf litter in sunny spots, coming out to bask and nibble on warm days. In temperate Japan it is the only grasshopper known to overwinter as an adult.

Life cycle

Reproduction: There is one generation a year. In central Japan, mating starts around mid-March, and females lay egg pods in the soil from late April to early August, mostly in June.
Larva: Newly hatched nymphs are light green; nymphs raised in crowded conditions turn much darker.