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Newly hatched Horse Lubber Grasshopper?
Tue, Jul 7, 2009 at 4:49 PM
Hello, we just started receiving our july monsoon rains near the Mexican/NM/AZ border and saw these little brown grasshoppers near my door. Are they immature Horse Lubber Grasshoppers that will turn black and yellow later on? Mom took this photo. Thank you!
Sarah, 10
SE AZ border

Horse Lubber Nymphs

Dear Sarah,
We concur with your identification despite BugGuide not having any images of immature Horse Lubber Grasshoppers, Taeniopoda eques. We did find a humorous quote from Eric Eaton on the All Experts Entomology page . The person who submitted the question did not provide a location for the sighting and Eric’s response was: “You don’t give me much to go on here. You don’t even state where on the planet you found this insect…..
If it was somewhere in the southeast United States, then you are most likely describing the nymph of a eastern lubber grasshopper, Romalea microptera. If in the southWEST U.S., then the nymph of a “horse lubber,” Taeniopoda eques. No, they are generally not abundant enough to do significant damage to plants. The bright colors indicate they might be poisonous to eat, but otherwise these grasshoppers are nothing more than a curiosity. “

Thank you very much. I went out two hours later the grasshoppers had turned black (they were 1cm, I collected one in a baggie and put it in the freezer for 20 minutes)! Last year I started a grasshopper survey and the Horse Lubber and Plains Lubber were the biggest grasshoppers I found.
Thank you very much for answering my question,
Sarah

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