Subject: Grasshopper
Location: Aravaipa Canyon, Arizona
September 23, 2013 9:14 pm
Hello Bugman,
I found these two on the Aravaipa creek September 21st.
Could not find then in Kaufmans field guide to insects of NA.
Also looked on your many pages of grasshoppers with no luck.
Very beautiful. Hope you can help me.
Polly
Signature: Polly Choate
Hi Polly,
Your image of mating Panther Spotted Grasshoppers, Poecilotettix pantherinus, is quite lovely. You couldn’t find it in our archives because your photo is the first example of this beautiful grasshopper that we have posted. Our quest to identify it brought us first to this artful composite photographic postcard of Arizona Grasshoppers. We then found it identified on thehibbits.net and we confirmed the identification on BugGuide. Alas, our quick search did not produce any specific information on the species, however, all the sightings on bugGuide Data page are confined to Arizona. This is a wonderful addition to our Bug Love tag.
So THAT is what that grasshopper is! I saw one back in August while hiking on a trail on Finger Peak in Tucson, AZ, and it was driving me nuts as to what it was! I was kicking myself for not having a camera with me, as I really wanted photos. The one I saw was vibrant sea-blue and mint-green, with a pattern like this one, only much brighter colors. I’m sure it’s the same sort of grasshopper though. So glad I know what species it is now!