Dissection in biology provides a hands-on education above and beyond reading a textbook. By seeing, touching and exploring different organs, muscles and tissues inside an animal and seeing how they work together allows you to really understand your own body and appreciate the amazing world around us. And it's not hard  - you can dissect a grasshopper right at home using this inexpensive specimen with a dissection guide and simple dissection tools! Many doctors, surgeons and veterinarians report that their first fascination with the body started with a biology dissection class.

Materials:

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Procedure

  1. Observe the external anatomy of your grasshopper. See if you can locate the following:
    1. Head
      1. Antennae
      2. Eyes (compound and simple)
      3. Mouth
        1. Labrum
        2. Mandibles
        3. Maxillae
        4. Labium
        5. Labial palps
    2. Thorax
      1. Legs
        1. Femur
        2. Tibia
        3. Tarsus
        4. Spurs
      2. Wings (front and hind)
      3. Pronotum
    3. Abdomen
      1. Tympanum
      2. Spiracles
      3. Ovipositors (female specimen only)
  2. Using your scissors, detach each part of the grasshopper’s mouth
  3. Using your scissors, remove a section of the exoskeleton from the grasshopper
    1. Remove the wings and legs from the right side of the grasshopper
    2. Cut from the end of the abdomen up to the head of the grasshopper, making your cut just to the right of the mid dorsal line
    3. Cut down the right side of the exoskeleton on either end of your first cut
    4. Pin the exoskeleton to your dissection tray
  4. Look for the following organs:
    1. Heart
    2. Ovaries (female specimen only)
    3. Digestive tract
      1. Esophagus
      2. Crop
      3. Stomach
      4. Gastric caeca
      5. Intestine
      6. Rectum
    4. Malpighian tubules

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Click here to go to part:19 Perch Dissection


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Comments

3 Responses to “Part 18: Grasshopper Dissection”

  1. neliuspamela says:

    Thank you!

  2. Aurora Lipper says:

    We don’t recommend finding your own grasshopper. We recommend purchasing one from the supplier listed above. This supplier humanely prepares and preserves each specimen.

  3. neliuspamela says:

    How do you kill the grasshopper before doing that? If you dont kill it thats just sad