MOLTING

 

LT COL NOEL ELLIS

 

02/IX/2025

 

The other day while I was clearing the pots of weeds which had grown taking advantage of the rains. The wet soil assisted me to pull them out with their roots. That is a better way of eradicating them, instead of trimming them from time to time.

 

Just then I noticed a ‘dead grasshopper’. It was around two inches in size and one felt bad that this creature had to die in our garden. As a rule, we leave them free. Though they chew so many leaves with their strong jaws called ‘mandibles’ , they are left alone to enjoy the spread.

 

Though, grasshoppers are pests, if left uncontrolled like Locust. They can polish off an entire field within no time if they come in a swarm. But these ones are my friends. Last year, we had Mr Hopper, who looked like a war veteran without one leg. This year, it looked like an able bodied one.

 

They become breakfast for many birds, lizards, and chameleons in the garden. Bulbuls, tailor birds, Kingfishers, pheasant crows, drongos etc love to munch on them. Grasshoppers generally eat in the daytime thus becoming easy prey. However, their camouflage and concealment is marvellous.

 

As curiosity set in, I picked it up to throw the dead grasshopper away. At least some bird would be able to feed itself. But when I lifted it, it appeared very light and fluffy. There was nothing solid inside. It was not crushed or flattened but hollow. This got me thinking. I had to check it out.

 

In their maximum span of life of five to six weeks, grasshoppers undergo “molting” five or six times. This is done in their growing stage. When they outgrow their skin, they shed it. After the last stage of molting, they become adults. This outer layer or skin is called the ‘exoskeleton’. Thereafter they get onto mating and laying eggs.

 

It takes about 10-20 minutes for the molting process to complete. The grasshopper wriggles out of the old skin. The fresh skin is delicate but firms up very fast when it comes in contact with air. This is generally an overnight process.

 

We all know how snakes shed their skins. This is the first time I saw a grasshopper doing so. In fact, one can mistake the outer shell as a grasshopper itself but then when it showed no movement on touching it, is when it clicked to me to investigate.

 

It has been raining heavily since last night and one could not go and check the pots and plants the whole day. In the evening, there was a break in the rain when one got a chance to have a dekho. There should not be any stagnant water in the pots or else it is disastrous for plants due to waterlogging.

 

That is when close to where I had found the ‘shed skin’ of the grasshopper did I see that insect sticking to one of our ‘sweet lime’ shrubs. This little thing was a beauty. It is different in colour from locust which has tinges of bright yellow and light green. This one was more pale and olive green. The ‘bristles’ on its hind legs gave me the creeps.

 

I realised that this is the grasshopper which has molted because the size was a near perfect fit.

 

Having photographed both the shell and the live insect, it was time to put it in black and white. Do other insects also undergo molting? I wonder!!!!!!!!

 

JAI HIND

©® NOEL ELLIS