Phymateus is a genus of grasshopper

Grasshopper

The grasshopper is an insect of the suborder Caelifera in the order Orthoptera. To distinguish it from bush crickets or katydids, it is sometimes referred to as the short-horned grasshopper...

s belonging to the Pyrgomorphidae

Pyrgomorphidae

Pyrgomorphidae is a family of grasshoppers in the order Orthoptera commonly known as the gaudy grasshoppers. It is the only family in the superfamily Pyrgomorphoidea, and contains 29 genera and at least 70 species and subspecies.-Families and genera:...

 family.

Description

Species of the genus Phymateus are African locust

Locust

Locusts are the swarming phase of short-horned grasshoppers of the family Acrididae. These are species that can breed rapidly under suitable conditions and subsequently become gregarious and migratory...

s about 70 millimetres (2.8 in) long. Some species at maturity are capable of long migratory flights. They raise and rustle wings when disturbed and may secrete a noxious fluid

Autohaemorrhaging

Autohaemorrhaging or reflex bleeding is the action of animals deliberately ejecting haemolymph or blood from themselves. If the animal has toxic compounds in its blood then it may be an effective chemical defence mechanism....

 from the thoracic joint. These locusts feed on highly toxic plants and usually congregate in large numbers on trees and shrubs, arranged in such a way as to resemble foliage. Females of the species Phymateus morbillosus are unable to fly, despite fully developed wings.

Distribution

Species of this genus can be found in Southern, Central and East Africa, through Somalia

Somalia

Somalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...

 and Madagascar

Madagascar

The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...

 to India

India

India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...

.

List of species

• Phymateus aegrotus (Gerstäcker, 1869)
• Phymateus baccatus (Stål, 1876)
• Phymateus bolivari Kirby, W.F., 1910
• Phymateus cinctus (Fabricius
  Johan Christian Fabricius
  Johan Christian Fabricius was a Danish zoologist, specialising in "Insecta", which at that time included all arthropods: insects, arachnids, crustaceans and others...
  
  , 1793) = P. stolli (Saussure, 1861) = P. flavus (I. Bolivar, 1903) = P. squarrosus (Houttuyn, 1813)
• Phymateus iris Bolivar, I., 1881
• Phymateus karschi Bolivar, I., 1904
• Phymateus leprosus (Fabricius, 1793)
• Phymateus madagassus Karsch, 1888
• Phymateus morbillosus (Linnaeus, 1758)
• Phymateus pulcherrimus (I. Bolívar
  Ignacio Bolívar
  Ignacio Bolívar y Urrutia was a Spanish naturalist and entomologist, and one of the founding fathers of Spanish entomology...
  
  , 1904)
• Phymateus purpurascens (Karsch, 1896)
• Phymateus saxosus (Coquerel
  Charles Coquerel
  Charles Coquerel was a French navy surgeon, algologist, and entomologist.Coquerel collected insects in Madagascar and neighbouring islands. A number of these were described after his death by Léon Fairmaire in his Notes sur les Coléopteres recueillis par Charles Coquerel a Madagascar et sur les...
  
  , 1862)
• Phymateus viridipes (Stål, 1873)