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The rare and elusive Leichhardt Grasshopper - Explorer Ludwig Leichhardt was the first European to record a sighting of this colourful grasshopper, resplendent in a costume of orange and blue with black splotches around the posterior. But after a few more glimpses, the grasshopper disappeared for 120 years. Scientific records show that sightings began again around 1973. It's only found in the Northern Territory: Keep River, Nitmiluk and in Kakadu National Park.
The Jawoyn and Gundjeibmi people of Western Arnhem Land call this grasshopper Alyurr, children of the lightning man, Namarrgon, a powerful ancestral being.
Leichhardt's grasshopper (Petasida ephippigera White) is found only in the wet-dry tropics of northern Australia.
The Jawoyn and Gundjeibmi people of Western Arnhem Land call this grasshopper Alyurr, children of the lightning man, Namarrgon, a powerful ancestral being.
Leichhardt's grasshopper (Petasida ephippigera White) is found only in the wet-dry tropics of northern Australia.
© Gunther Deichmann
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