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Is this a Blister Beetle?

I found this tonight in my hay. Can someone help me identify it? Hay is second cut timothy with clover, maybe a tiny bit of alfalfa but if there is alfalfa, it’s minimal. I tossed out to be on the safe side. Thanks!

Just a grasshopper!

Blister beetles look more like beetles with a hard shell and a neck. What you are looking at on this guy are long wings and jumping legs similar to a cricket. :grinning:

Blister beetle:

image

They come in different colors, but I think this guy is pretty typical. See how his head is free to swivel? That is supposed to distinguish them from other beetles.

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Thanks! Hubby said grasshopper too, he’ll be happy to hear he was right!

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Our blister beetles tend to be a longish bug, matte grey, from very light to almost black.
Some are a dark tan/brown with light tan thin stripes from neck to hind end.

If one crawls up your pant leg and you only feel a bug and squash it, any juices before you can get it off and cleaned will make a nasty burn looking sore on your leg.
You learn to pinch any bug in your pants, not smash against your leg.

Glad your bug is not one, just a few of those can make a horse very ill.

Before conditioning machinery and sprays, when you laid alfalfa down and had to wait several days for it to dry before baling, beetles would be gone by then.
Today where you can almost swath and bale, you have to be careful not to bale those beetles in there.
Some producers spray lightly for insects before baling.

These are one kind in our region, although most of our grey ones are much lighter grey shade:

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ours here look like thisblister_beetle

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Kind of looks like a mayfly to me. I was just reading an old article about mayflies and PHF. Doesn’t look like any grasshopper I’ve seen.

that left leg is still where it ought to be, but the leg up by the head is displaced. And it so def looks like the hip to knee section of a grasshopper’s leg. Plus the body proportions…also pretty grasshopper-y

Entomologist here. That’s a grasshopper :slight_smile:

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Thank you! I feel silly. Having grown up in the country you’d think I’d be able to recognize a grasshopper :grin:.

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You’re not silly! It’s good to ask!

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