Rainbow Milkweed Locust: A Real Toxic Beauty

Habitat: Madagascar
Status: Not Evaluated

Toxic and rainbows aren’t two words you would normally associate with each other. Actually, if you were listening to Britney Spears’ tune and eating lucky charms or something, then it might apply. But in everyday life these two words don’t normally go hand in hand – until now: Meet the Rainbow Milkweed Locust (Phymateus saxosus).

These absolutely stunning creatures, which reach about 10 cm or so, feature every color of the rainbow; and for good reason. They want to alarm predators (bright colors are bad remember?) by alerting them that they’ve got a whole lotta toxin flowin’ through those grasshopper veins and they should probably keep their hungry appetites looking elsewhere. That’s because, like its common name suggests, it feeds on the Milkweed plant, in addition to other toxic vegetation.

The local people call these brilliant bugs ‘tumateus’ and if anyone knows what the exact translation for that word is, please let me know in the comments. Google is being so unhelpful right now.