Worcestershire Record No. 19 November 2005 p. 22

DIVING GROUNDHOPPER

Gary Farmer

During a visit in May, to my local nature Reserve (Ipsley Alders Marsh) I was searching for invertebrates when a Slender Groudhopper Tetrix subulata jumped to avoid me. It landed in a small pond and proceeded to swim a short distance across the surface of the water. I have observed this behaviour many times over the years and so was not surprised to see it again. But the hopper then disappeared under the water and I watched it for several seconds but it stayed down. Presuming it to be in trouble, I reached in and fished it out on my finger. rather than sir still on my finger it jumped back into the pond, swam further out towards the middle and 'dived' again. It was quite obviously using this technique to avoid capture.

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