Parts of a Grasshopper – Head, Thorax, Abdomen and Legs

All 17 parts on the diagram

Show the list

The grasshopper 12

Head The front section. It holds the eyes, antennae and mouth.
Antennae A pair of feelers. A grasshopper's are shorter than its body.
Compound eye One of two large eyes, one on each side of the head.
Thorax The middle section. The six legs and the wings join it.
Abdomen The long rear section of the body, in segments.
Legs Six in all. The front four are shorter than the jumping pair.
Forewings (tegmina) Narrow, leathery front wings. They cover the folded hind wings.
Pronotum A shield over the front of the thorax, like a saddle.
Tympanum (eardrum) The ear: a membrane on the abdomen's first segment.
Hind femur The thick upper part of the hind leg, enlarged for jumping.
Hind tibia The long, thin lower part of the hind leg.
Ovipositor Short, pointed plates on a female, for laying eggs in the ground.

The mouthparts 5

Labrum (upper lip) A broad flap that serves as the front lip.
Mandibles (jaws) A pair of jaws. They work from side to side.
Labium (lower lip) The lower lip. It closes the mouth from behind.
Maxillary palps The longer pair of feelers. They touch and taste food.
Labial palps The shorter pair of feelers, on the lower lip.

How this list was compiled: Every name checked on 2026-09-30, a name kept only where two of these use it: (1) North Carolina State University, ENT 425 General Entomology, Orthoptera, https://genent.cals.ncsu.edu/insect-identification/order-orthoptera/ (antennae; pronotum shield like, covering much of the thorax; front wings narrow and leathery, the tegmina, folded back over the abdomen; hind femur enlarged for jumping; the hearing organs on the sides of abdominal segment one in grasshoppers), with its page on mouthparts, https://genent.cals.ncsu.edu/bug-bytes/head/mouthparts/ (the grasshopper's labrum as a front lip, mandibles working from side to side, the labium as a back lip, maxillary palps and labial palps); (2) University of Wyoming, Field Guide to Common Western Grasshoppers (R. E. Pfadt), https://www.uwyo.edu/entomology/grasshoppers/field-guide/index.html (three body regions: head, thorax, abdomen; three pairs of legs; short antennae; compound eyes; pronotum, the leathery forewings called tegmina, the hind femur and tibiae, the tympanum on each side of abdominal segment one, the short ovipositor or egg-layer, the maxillary and labial palps); (3) Wikipedia, Grasshopper and Insect mouthparts, text only, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grasshopper and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insect_mouthparts (head, thorax and abdomen; antennae; compound eyes; three pairs of legs, the front legs shorter than the hind legs; tegmina, the tympanal organ, the robust femur and the spined tibia of the hind leg, short ovipositors; labrum, mandibles, labium, the two pairs of palps); (4) J. H. Comstock, A Manual for the Study of Insects, https://archive.org/details/rnanualforstudyof00coms_0 (the mouth-parts of the red-legged locust: the labrum or upper lip, the mandibles, the labium or under lip, maxillary and labial palpi; the short ovipositor of four plates, used for digging; the ear on the first segment of the abdomen). Licence: own work

The drawing: Drawn for this site on 2026-09-30 from plain geometry; no photograph or plate followed. Licence: own work

How it works

The body parts of a grasshopper are a head with antennae and eyes, a thorax that carries six legs and the wings, and a long abdomen. The drawing also names its jumping leg, its ear and its mouthparts.

Read the full guide

From the side, then the mouth from the front

Numbers 1 to 7 are the body: the head, the antennae, a compound eye, the thorax, the abdomen, the legs and the forewings. Numbers 8 to 12 are a grasshopper's own: the pronotum behind the head, the tympanum under the wing, the hind femur and hind tibia of the jumping leg, and the ovipositor at the tip. Numbers 13 to 17 are on the head from the front: the labrum, the mandibles, the labium and the two pairs of palps.

A grasshopper's ear is on its abdomen. A cricket's is on its front leg.
The jaws open sideways, not up and down.

Questions and answers

Where are a grasshopper's ears?

On the abdomen. A grasshopper has a tympanum, a thin membrane like an eardrum, on each side of the first segment of the abdomen, just under the wings.

What are the mouthparts of a grasshopper?

Chewing mouthparts: a labrum, or upper lip; a pair of mandibles, the jaws, which work from side to side; a pair of maxillae behind them; and a labium, or lower lip. The maxillae and the labium each carry a pair of palps.

How does a grasshopper jump?

With its hind legs. The grasshopper folds the thin tibia tight against the thick femur and builds up force. Then it lets the tibia snap straight, like a catapult.

What is the ovipositor for?

Laying eggs. A female grasshopper has a short ovipositor of pointed plates at the tip of her abdomen. Many kinds use it to dig a hole in the ground and lay their eggs there.