Gesonula punctifrons

mshbd(69)

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Nature Observer

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Latin Name	Observation Date	Location
*Gesonula punctifrons*	Sep 28, 2026	Natore, Bangladesh

It was September 28th. In the afternoon, I was walking by my garden and along the dirt road by the pond bank. Suddenly my eyes were caught on the leaf of a large taro plant by the pond. A wonderful and attractive insect was sitting very calmly right in the middle of the leaf. Looking from a distance, it seemed like an ordinary grasshopper, but out of curiosity, as I went closer, I realized that its body color and the beautiful markings on its body were completely different from other ordinary grasshoppers. On the deep green of the leaf, several parallel light bluish and dark brown stripes were drawn on the back of the insect. The insect looked really great. Without any delay, I took out my phone from my pocket and very carefully took a few nice pictures of it.

After taking the picture, with the help of the iNaturalist app and searching a bit online, I found out that it is actually a special type of grasshopper, which is commonly known to people as 'Water Hyacinth Grasshopper' or 'Taro Grasshopper'. In the scientific world, its specific scientific name is Gesonula punctifrons. They are an attractive species belonging to the Acrididae family of the animal kingdom. Anyone who loves nature can easily recognize them separately just by looking at these beautiful bluish and brown stripes or markings on their back.

I thought I would share with you today in simple language the important things I learned by reading various sources and articles about this wonderful insect.

Where they live: They mainly like to live in slightly damp, soft, and humid places near water bodies. They naturally live in the canals, marshes, rivers, pond banks, paddy fields, weeds beside dirt roads of our rural Bengal, or places where aquatic plants like water hyacinth and taro plants grow in abundance. They usually do not run around or jump much, most of the time during the day they prefer to sit quietly under leaves or on young branches of plants.

What they eat: There is no reason to fear, they do not bite humans or cause any direct harm to humans. But in the case of plants, they are completely herbivorous in nature. They mainly survive by sucking the sap from young leaves and stems of various aquatic plants, taro leaves, water hyacinth, and field grass or crops. Especially the soft young parts of water hyacinth and taro plants are the main part of their diet.

Shape and lifestyle: The physical structure of this grasshopper is quite attractive. On the upper part of their body, several beautiful parallel elongated bluish or light sky-blue stripes can be seen on a dark brown background. However, their lower side, that is the belly area, is somewhat light green and yellowish in color. Their two eyes are quite clear and somewhat reddish-brown, which helps them sense the surrounding environment and danger very quickly. The two antennae in front of their head are small in size but quite sensitive. Besides, because their legs have a strong structure, they can stick very firmly to the slippery leaves or wet branches of plants and can easily jump from one leaf to another.

Reproduction: Mother insects lay many eggs in clusters during the breeding season by making small holes inside the soft tissue of young stems or leaf petioles of aquatic plants. After the eggs hatch into nymphs or young ones, they change their shell or outer skin several times in their life cycle. Thus, through step-by-step shell changes, wings grow on their body and they transform into full-fledged flying insects. The humid weather and presence of water near water bodies make their reproduction process easy and dynamic.

Interesting fact: The most wonderful and important information about them is that they have a special role in controlling harmful aquatic weeds in nature. In many countries of the world, to stop the abnormal spread of fast-growing and harmful aquatic plants like water hyacinth, this Gesonula punctifrons grasshopper is seen as a type of eco-friendly natural control agent. They eat large amounts of water hyacinth leaves and slow down their abnormal growth. In addition, due to the special pattern of their body color, they blend in so well on green leaves that predatory birds or animals cannot easily find them.

Hope you like the post.

I learned about them from various sites including iNaturalist, Wikipedia and Google.

_{(All posts are written in Bengali and translated into English using Google Translate.)}

Camera Used	Samsung SM-G973F
F-Stop	F2.4
ISO speed	ISO
Focal length	26mm
Flash	No
Editing app	Lightroom
Photography	(Gesonula punctifrons)
Photographer	@mshbd
Location	Natore, Bangladesh