Royal Australian Mint has submitted the next two coins in the Bright Bug Series Leichhardt’s Grasshopper and Red Bull Ant.

Leichhardt’s Grasshopper

This coin is the fifth coin in the Bright Bug Series. Hatched in the remote plains of the Northern Territory and Western Australia with dull colouring, the Leichhardt’s Grasshopper might never seem destined to take on the world. However, as it grows and develops a vivid body of brick red, midnight black, orange and royal blue, it soon finds its purpose, its home and its mission. The whole world might still be too much for it to conquer, but it does manage to pounce on a single Pityrodia shrub. It lives in and eats its one host plant for its entire life. While the grasshopper rules its shrub with no predators to threaten its kingdom, its life is not without challenges. Yearly burning of the scrub land where it is found can leave the creature homeless and foodless.

Red Bull Ant

The Red Bull Ant is believed to be dwelling in elaborate underground nests with two or three guard ants serving as loyal bouncers. This ant is alleged to be the ringleader of a ruthless food network: extracting liquids from bees and other ants, and feeding the leftovers to its larvae. Witnesses report that the worker ants’ own infertile eggs have also supplemented this diet. Be on the lookout for its bright yellow mandibles and reddish-brown head and thorax. If seen, the Red Bull Ant should be considered venomous; one sting from its tail can result in three days of pain and swelling. For those too wise to try to capture one alive, capture one in coin form as part of the Royal Australian Mint’s Bright Bugs series, this is the last coin in the Series.

New release product will be shipped from 4 August 2014.