Cyathosternum prehensile (Bolívar, 1882)

I have to start by deploring the paucity of information freely available on African invertebrates - which itself leads on to a resolution to conclude with links to sites which were used, or might be used, to aid in identification in this area.

Now that we've covered that, let's get on with the phylogeny.

Eukaryota
  Animalia
    Eumetazoa
      Bilateralia
        Nephrozoa
          Prokaryota
            Ecdysozoa
              Arthropoda
                Hexapoda
                  Insecta
                    Dicondylia
                      Pterygota
                        Manopterygota
                          Neoptera
                            Polyneoptera
                              Anartioptera
                                Polyorthoptera
                                  Orthopterida
                                    Panorthoptera
                                      Orthoptera
                                        Caelifera
                                          Acrididea
                                            Acridoidea
                                              Acrididae
                                                Eyprocneminae
                                                

Cyathosternum prehensile 

Bolívar,1882

          

You may have noticed my lack of input on the taxonomy. That can be taken as an indication that I want to keep you guessing on what we have here. As the 'Insecta' makes it pretty obvious, it shouldn't take long...

No idea? 

It's a grasshopper or locust (the order, Orthoptera, also includes crickets, and the suborder Caelifera also includes the pygmy mole crickets - at the infraorder Acrididea it could still have been a grouse locust. Only at the superfamily Acridoidea did it become definitely a grasshopper of some description). With no common name to dawdle on, let's meet our guest for the post:

 A grassland species which flares a rich red wing as it flies, it is easily overlooked among other red-winged locusts and grasshoppers in the Central-African scrub-grassland it calls home. Its purplish-black eyeliner and (shown better in the picture below) hind feet, seem to distinguish it from the variety of similar species with which it shares its range. 

(Identity based on comparison of ranges and specimens pictured on the Orthoptera Species File, here)