Acanthoplus discoidalis

Acanthoplus discoidalis is a species in the Bradyporinae, a subfamily of the katydid family (Tettigoniidae). Like its closest relatives, Acanthoplus discoidalis variously bears common names such as armoured katydid, armoured ground cricket, armoured bush cricket, corn cricket, setotojane and koringkriek. The species is native to parts of Angola, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and South Africa. Note that the common names are characteristically misleading; the species is not closely related to true crickets, which are a different family, the Gryllidae. Acanthoplus discoidalis is a wide-bodied, flightless species that typically grows to a body length of about 5 cm. The pronotum bears several sharp, conical spines. The mandibles, or main biting jaws, are powerful; they can inflict a painful nip and they permit the insect to feed on material such as tough herbage or carrion. Another defense against predators is reflex bleeding (also called 'autohaemorrhaging') in which the insects squirt haemolymph from pores in their exoskeleton, achieving a range of a few centimetres. Acanthoplus discoidalis is omnivorous and feeds opportunistically on many different foods. One source documented attacks on red-billed quelea nestlings and suggested that the insects might be able to detect the nests by auditory clues. Especially when their diet is deficient in protein and salt, members of the species commonly become cannibalistic, so much so that when their populations peak in autumn and some of them stray across roads and are crushed by traffic, cannibalistic conspecifics congregate around the casualties and feed until they are killed in turn. During that season their remains may form large patches on roads. Acanthoplus discoidalis has several defensive mechanisms apart from the armoured exoskeleton. Their defence takes various forms, depending on the gender of the individual and the method of attack. When attacked from the side, both males and females will attempt to bite the attacker and males will stridulate (females have no functional stridulatory mechanism). In about half the attacks from the side, either gender may autohaemorrhage, squirting between 5 mg and 80 mg of possibly toxic haemolymph at the attacker at ranges of up to 3 cm.