Acridae, Locusts and Short-Horned Grasshoppers
rss Exotic colored grasshopper
I found this grasshopper on my dad’s property in Seligman, Arizona. Could you provide any information? Thanks!
Shelly
Hi Shelly,
What an adorable Painted Grasshopper. We have several images and some information on this gaily colored grasshopper on our Grasshopper page.
painted grasshopper photos
Hello Bugman,
We found this painted grasshopper in our yard, Chino Valley AZ. Was looking for information about it when we found your site. Wish I’d used a tripod but the pictures are still pretty sharp
David
Hi David,
My that Rainbow Grasshopper is letting its freaky flag fly. We can’t help but wonder how conservative dressers would view that rainbow of colors. Perhaps they would call out the fashion police..
Red Legged Grasshopper /W picture
Hello,
First I just wanted to say that I love you web page, I spend so much time getting lost in the pictures. I have been chasing these red legged grasshoppers all over my garden for a almost a week trying to get a shot of them. i Finally caught one today, took a few shots, and let the fellow go. It was about an inch and a half long, and the diagonal stripe on its side is actually light yellow (it looks white in the pictures) I think it might be a type of Melanoplus. I live in Boston MA, and I hope you enjoy the pictures.
Laura
Hi Laura,
We believe you are correct with your Melanoplus identification. We do not feel confident enough to take this to the species level. BugGuide has a nice match.
What is it
Hi, I am resending this as you requested, but I did look further into your web sight (which is great) and I think I found it. I think it is a painted grasshopper? Am I correct? Grasshopper found in Young, Arizona 7/29/06. Thank You,
Laura
Hi Laura,
You are correct. This is a Painted Grasshopper, and it is a beautiful photo.
Dactylotum bicolor
Bugman,
Thought you might like to see our picture of a Dactylotum bicolor. We saw it at Horsetooth National Park in Fort Collins, Colorado.
James & Winnie Comer
Hi James and Winnie,
Your photo of mating Painted Grasshoppers is quite stunning and a welcome addition to our site. We hope to resolve a minor website issue and post it very soon. This species ranges from Northern Mexico north to Arizona, Texas, and the foothills of the Colorado Rocky Mountains.
South African grasshopper
I attach a photo of a grasshopper I saw in Karoo National Park in South Africa while on holiday this January. It was at least 75mm long and I have never seen an insect so beautifully coloured. Can you possibly identify it for me please?
Thanks,
Geoff White
Hi Geoff,
Most of the colorful South African Grasshoppers are poisonous. We are consulting with Eric Eaton for a possibly species identification. Here is Eric’s input: “The South African grasshopper is in the Pyrgomorphidae, will try to remember to check my book at home for a possible species ID.”
Colorful South African Grasshopper (05/21/2006)
I believe that the colorful South African grasshopper on your homepage is Zonocerus elegans. If I am correct, they can have long wings or short wings, but they are all very colorful. Hope this helps,
Chad Lensbower
Update (05/24/2006) Eric Eaton has this to add:
Ok, the South African grasshopper is probably something in the genus Zonocerus, perhaps Z. elegans. Apparently they can be quite the pest, and even ‘Livestock avoid eating bushes infested with this species,’ according to my Field Guide to Insects of South Africa, by Mike Picker, Charles Griffiths, and Alan Weaving. You don’t say! Ha, I wouldn’t eat a bush full of those ‘hoppers, either. Eric”
Another Eastern Lubber photo
These are rather large but are still in black phase. They were plentiful as nymphs, and now they are fewer in number, but quite large in size. They are found in all kinds of vegetation, but we have never seen them eat anything. Location: New Port Richey, FL 34654
Rgds,
Dan O’Brien
Thanks for the great photo Dan.
Grasshopper?
My son and I came across these two interesting looking grasshoppers during a hike in the Chihuahuan desert surrounding El Paso Texas. I have searched the web and can find nothing that looks like these. They appear to be in a juvenile stage, although they are approximately one and a quarter inches long and three fourths of an inch across. Thank you for your help identifying these critters.
Art
Hi Art,
We are mystified and turning to Eric Eaton for assistance. Eric quickly responded: ” The other two ‘hoppers from Houston are robust toad lubbers, Phrynotettix robustus. They range just into western Texas, north into southern New Mexico. They are adults, just wingless stone (boulder?) mimics:-) Neat find, nice images! Eric”
Clarification (06/11/2006)
toad lubbers
Hello,
I was looking at your “What’s that bug” page and saw someone sent in a picture of some toad lubbers from my neck of the woods. Although P. robustus is in the area, these could also be Phrynotettix tshivavensis (Haldeman). The only way to tell them apart is to look on the inner hind femora which is distinctly black in tshivavensis (the one on the left might by robustus) or compare the relative sizes (tshivavensis is usually smaller). These both look like males. Both species commonly have small stubs of wings. P. tshivavensis is known as the Chihuahuan toad lubber. Good to see someone else looking at insects in El Paso without a can of RAID!
Paul Lenhart
University of Texas at El Paso
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