These critters, that I call Lubbers, have many local names. Do you know any common names for them? They even have more than one scientific name.
Many people, including tropical fruit growers in Southern Florida, are afraid of them and think they will eat all the leaves of their plants. But after watching them year after year I noticed they do not each much. Sometimes you see dozens of them on a plant (but notice, are they really eating the leaves?) Probably not. You may as well see dozens of them on a fence or a rock -- they're not eating those, are they?
These are the biggest grasshoppers I've ever seen, but they don't fly as much as the smaller ones, they have very small wings.
I have only called these grasshoppers. I think there is a difference with a locust, which I think has knobbed antennae versus straight. I looked up this variety once, because this specimen wouldn't seem to be super common to my un-biological mind.
Apparently they are common in the South and South Eastern USA. However I grew up in the northern climes and always knew about grasshoppers (they spit tobacco juice) and fly into the side of your head when you walk across a field. But when I moved to Florida in 1980, I was astonished at the size of the lubbers, as people called them.
Wiki comes up with several local names including "diablo" and "black diablo," Devil's Horse, Graveyard Grasshopper and Giant Locust in Mississippi. And of course researchers are always messing with the scientific names too:
FROM WIKI: "It was long known as Romalea microptera before being moved to guttata. However, after new research, the remaining names (including guttata) have been marked as nomina oblita and microptera takes priority once more."
Tip of the hat to dad for enhancing the photo, but the original resolution was amazing.