Yellow winged grasshopper (Gastrimargus musicus) nymphs (probably.) - The size and small wing cases indicate a nymph stage rather than an adult. There seem to be two colour morphs - green and light brown. We think the small red blob on the green nymph's antenna is a mite:
Brown morph:
Here is the same nymph stage, comatose with curved abdomen, clinging to the top of an exposed woody stem. We found a few in this condition and wondered if it was parasite induced behaviour:
Carl Zimmer in his very interesting book, "Parasite Rex", describes a Fluke which changes the behaviour of its Ant host, making it climb to the top of a grass stem and wait there to be eaten by a Cow which is the Fluke's secondary host.
Whatever the cause, the prognosis is bleak:
