Schistocerca americana nymphs hatch

There have been struggles recently with consistent hatches. After speaking with several entomologists, I began to follow of different hatching protocol for Schistocerca americana egg pods. Today was the day the first egg pod was supposed to hatch and it happened right on time. Several dozen nymphs have hatched and more are on the way.  

Schistocerca americana nymph

This one container holds 3 or 4 egg pods. This is the first one to hatch and the first one laid. So there should be several more hundred that will hatch from this container in the coming days.

The above video shows the newly hatched nymphs in their new home. The following video shows a side view of the egg pod container. Hatching nymphs can be seen (they are bright green) below the surface in the cavity left by the egg pod.

Work also continues on M. differentialis, but for now the focus of production will be on S. americana. 

Melanoplus differentialis egg pods

Thoptera has been working hard to harvest a large amount of egg pods from the first generation captive grasshoppers. Dozens of Melanoplus differentialis were wild caught in northwest Tennessee late last summer into the fall (2019). Those grasshoppers mated in captivity and deposited egg pods. Those egg pods were hatched during the winter indoors. After having over 200 adults almost ready to begin egg laying, we were struck with a fatal error that wiped out our breeding stock to 100 in number. These remaining grasshoppers have grown large after lots of experimentation with lighting, temperature, and feed. They are now laying eggs pods with gusto.

Egg pods in individual cups. 

According to literature, each Melanoplus differentialis pod should contain around 100 eggs depending on the size of the pod. We are conducting our own experiments by placing each pod into its own incubation cup. This will allow for testing of different incubation and hatching protocol, and also to gather data about hatching rates.

Keeping track of each egg pod as it goes from being deposited until hatching. 

If all goes well, Thoptera should see mass hatching begin to occur in late June well into July. Anyone in the market for grasshoppers?

Egg pod typical size thus far.