Grasshoppers are a widespread and familiar group of insects, easily recognized by their powerful hind legs designed for jumping, their large eyes, and their short antennae. They belong to a larger order of insects that also includes crickets and katydids. Found on every continent except Antarctica, they thrive in a vast range of environments, from dense tropical forests and lush meadows to arid deserts, demonstrating remarkable adaptability. Their presence is often announced by the characteristic sounds and sights of summer—their rhythmic chirping and sudden, leaping flights through the grass.
These insects are primarily herbivores, feeding on a wide variety of leaves, grasses, and other plant materials. This diet makes them a crucial part of the food web, as they convert plant energy into a form accessible to many other animals. However, when population numbers surge, certain species can form massive swarms known as locusts, which can cause significant damage to agricultural crops, making them a serious concern for farmers in many parts of the world.
One of the grasshopper’s most fascinating features is its method of communication, known as stridulation. Males produce their distinctive chirping songs to attract females and ward off rivals by rubbing a row of tiny pegs on their hind legs against a hardened vein on their forewing. This sound-making is often accompanied by visual displays, particularly in species with brightly colored hind wings that they flash during flight to startle predators or communicate with each other.
For defense, grasshoppers rely heavily on their excellent camouflage, with body colors and patterns that allow them to blend seamlessly into their surroundings, whether it be green grass, brown soil, or leafy forest floors. When camouflage fails, their first instinct is to use their powerful legs to make a quick, escaping jump. Some species, like the bold-colored lubber grasshoppers, take a different approach, using bright hues to advertise their bad taste or toxicity to predators
Species of Grasshoppers
Lubber Grasshoppers
These are some of the largest and most visually striking grasshoppers. They are often flightless and move with a slow, clumsy walk. Lubbers are famous for their bold warning colors, like black with yellow or red, which signal to predators that they are toxic or taste bad. When threatened, they can also secrete a foul-smelling foam. They are commonly found in the southern United States and other warm, grassy or weedy areas.
Migratory Grasshoppers
This type is known for its potential to become a major agricultural pest. They are typically medium-sized with excellent camouflage in shades of brown and gray. Under the right conditions, their populations can explode, and they form massive, traveling swarms that can consume entire fields of crops. They are commonly found throughout North American grasslands and farmlands.
Bird Grasshoppers
Named for their strong and sustained flight, these are large, powerful grasshoppers. While often solitary, some species within this group are the infamous locusts capable of forming continent-spanning swarms that devastate agriculture. They are typically brown or green and are common in open fields, deserts, and scrublands across the Americas and Africa.
Spur-throated Grasshoppers
This group gets its name from a distinctive spine-like bump located on the underside of their throat. They are robust, medium to large insects and include many species that are significant crop pests. They are powerful jumpers and fliers, commonly found in a wide variety of habitats, including grasslands, forests, and agricultural areas worldwide.
Band-winged Grasshoppers
These grasshoppers are the masters of surprise. When at rest, they are perfectly camouflaged against the dirt, but when they fly, they reveal hind wings that are brilliantly colored in red, yellow, blue, or black. This flash of color, often accompanied by a loud crackling sound, startles predators. You’ll often see them along gravel roads, dry riverbeds, and open fields.
Pygmy Grasshoppers
Also called grouse locusts, these are tiny, delicate grasshoppers rarely over an inch long. Their most distinctive feature is a pronotum (the shield behind the head) that extends like a long, flat roof back over the entire abdomen. They prefer moist environments and are commonly found on muddy banks along streams, ponds, and puddles.
Meadow Grasshoppers
These are the classic, slender grasshoppers you are likely to encounter in a grassy field. They are not typically major pests but play an important role in the ecosystem. They are usually green or brown, providing excellent camouflage, and their gentle, rhythmic chirping is a classic sound of summer meadows throughout Europe and North America.
Monkey Grasshoppers
These are bizarre, often tropical grasshoppers with a unique appearance. They are characterized by their oversized, spiny hind legs, which they hold in a strange, flexed position that resembles a tiny monkey. They are often secretive, living in forest canopies or dense undergrowth, and are commonly found in the rainforests of Central and South America.
Leaf-Litter Grasshoppers
This group is adapted for life on the forest floor. They are superb hiders, with bodies and wings that are perfectly shaped and colored to mimic dead leaves, complete with fake veins, spots, and even chewed-looking edges. They are very difficult to spot and are commonly found in the damp leaf litter of tropical and subtropical forests worldwide.
Cone-headed Grasshoppers
These grasshoppers are easily identified by their elongated, cone-shaped heads. They are typically large and have long, slender wings. Many species are strong fliers and are most active at dusk or night, often being attracted to lights. They are commonly found in tall grasses, meadows, and weedy fields, where their green or brown coloration provides excellent camouflage.
Silent Slant-faced Grasshoppers
As the name implies, these grasshoppers are not known for making audible sounds. They have a distinctive, sharply slanted face that helps them blend in with grasses. They are sleek and streamlined, perfectly adapted for moving through dense vegetation in moist habitats like marshes, wet meadows, and along the edges of ponds and streams.
Squeaker Grasshoppers
This group doesn’t produce sound by rubbing their legs on their wings like typical grasshoppers. Instead, they “squeak” by rubbing their hind legs against specially modified veins on their forewings. The sound is a short, faint squeak. They are often beautifully patterned with intricate designs and are commonly found in arid and semi-arid environments, often perched on shrubs.
Tooth-legged Grasshoppers
A key characteristic of these grasshoppers is a series of small, tooth-like projections on the underside of their hind legs. They are often found in hot, dry habitats and are well-camouflaged against the desert soil and rocks. They are common in the southwestern United States and other similar arid regions around the world.
Devil’s Horses
This is a common name for a large, intimidating species of lubber grasshopper. They are jet black or dark brown and can appear almost armored. Despite their fearsome name, they are slow-moving and, like other lubbers, rely on their toxicity and threatening posture to deter predators. They are commonly found in the southeastern United States.
Painted Grasshoppers
These grasshoppers are celebrated for their spectacular and vibrant colors, which can include bright yellow, red, blue, and black in striking patterns. This coloration serves as a clear warning to predators that they are unpalatable. They are often found in tropical and subtropical regions, feeding on specific host plants that may contribute to their toxicity.
Pygmy Mole Grasshoppers
These are among the smallest grasshoppers and have a unique, stout body shape. They are flightless and spend much of their time on the ground, often burrowing or hiding in soil crevices. Their appearance and behavior are more mole-like than a typical grasshopper. They are commonly found in arid, sandy environments.
Shield-backed Grasshoppers
This group is named for their large, rounded pronotum (the shield behind the head) that often covers them like a saddle or a knight’s armor. They are typically flightless and are often associated with dry, open habitats or mountainous regions. Their calls are often a simple series of clicks or taps.
Sierra Clubtail Grasshoppers
These are robust, slow-moving grasshoppers often found at high elevations. They are typically dark-colored and have a club-like tip on their antennae. They are not strong fliers and are commonly seen walking on the ground or on rocks in alpine and subalpine environments in western North America.
Rainbow Grasshoppers
As their name suggests, these grasshoppers are adorned with a stunning array of iridescent colors, often featuring shades of blue, green, yellow, and red. This dazzling display makes them one of the most visually striking insects. They are typically found in open, sunny fields and prairies with abundant flowers, where their colors surprisingly help them blend in with the vibrant blossoms.
Scudder’s Bush Grasshoppers
These are small, slender grasshoppers that are masters of camouflage in woody and grassy areas. They have long wings and antennae, and their bodies are perfectly shaped and colored to mimic stems and blades of grass. They are commonly found in weedy fields, forest edges, and along overgrown trails, where they remain perfectly still to avoid detection.
Obscure Grasshoppers
This group is defined by its lack of distinctive markings, making them “obscure” and difficult to identify. They are typically a plain, mottled gray or brown color, which provides excellent camouflage against bare ground and rocks. They are common in very dry, sparsely vegetated habitats like deserts, badlands, and dry lake beds.
Crackling Forest Grasshoppers
These grasshoppers are known for the loud, crackling or buzzing sound they make in flight, similar to band-winged grasshoppers but often heard in more wooded areas. When perched, they are well-camouflaged, but when they fly, they reveal brightly colored hind wings. They are commonly found in open woodlands, savannas, and shrublands.
Spotted Bird Grasshoppers
This is a large and impressively marked species, often covered in a pattern of dark spots and bars on a green or tan background. They are strong fliers and can travel significant distances. They are commonly found in a variety of habitats, including fields, gardens, and along roadsides, throughout the southern and central United States.
Velvet-striped Grasshoppers
These small grasshoppers are easily identified by the two distinctive, velvety-black stripes that run along the top of their body. They are often found in loose groups and are not strong fliers, preferring to hop short distances in the grass. They are common inhabitants of short-grass prairies, lawns, and other well-trimmed grassy areas.
Green-winged Grasshoppers
These grasshoppers are almost entirely a vibrant, uniform green, including their wings. This provides them with near-perfect camouflage in the lush, green vegetation they inhabit. They are medium-sized and can be found in meadows, along streams, and in other moist, grassy habitats where their green coloration allows them to disappear among the leaves.
Wrinkled Grasshoppers
This group has a distinctive, textured appearance, with a pronotum that looks rough, wrinkled, or pitted. This unique texture helps break up their outline, providing excellent camouflage against the rough ground and soil they live on. They are commonly found in arid, open environments with patchy vegetation and exposed soil.
Pasture Grasshoppers
This is a very common and widespread group, often considered the “typical” grasshopper. They are medium-sized, with colors ranging from brown and gray to various shades of green, allowing them to blend into a variety of grassy environments. As the name implies, they are abundantly found in pastures, meadows, fields, and any other open, grassy area.
Coral-winged Grasshoppers
These grasshoppers are named for their stunning hind wings, which are a vibrant coral, orange, or pinkish-red color. When at rest, they are camouflaged against the ground, but in flight, they create a brilliant flash of color to startle predators. They are commonly found in dry, open areas and are known for the loud crackling sound their flight makes.
Autumn Yellow-winged Grasshoppers
As their name suggests, these grasshoppers are most active in the late summer and autumn. The males are particularly noticeable, displaying bright yellow hind wings during their fluttering courtship flights. They are commonly found in weedy fields, grasslands, and open woodlands, where their distinctive flight is a classic sign of the changing season.
Green Fool Grasshoppers
This grasshopper is a master of disguise, but not in the way you might expect. While its body is a simple green, its hind wings feature a large, dark eyespot that resembles the eye of a much larger animal. When it flashes these wings, it can startle a predator long enough to make its escape. It is commonly found in lush, grassy fields and meadows.
Mermiria Grasshoppers
These are the “slant-faced” grasshoppers of wet areas. They have a sharply angled head and a long, slender body that is perfect for hiding among blades of grass. They are strong jumpers but poor fliers. They are almost always found in moist, dense meadows, marshes, and along the edges of streams and ponds.
Muddled Grasshoppers
This grasshopper lives up to its name by having an incredibly variable and messy pattern of colors and spots. No two individuals look exactly alike, and this “muddled” appearance is its camouflage, breaking up its outline against the complex background of a forest floor. It is commonly found in wooded areas and oak savannas.
Mosaic Grasshoppers
Adorned with intricate patterns of contrasting colors that resemble a mosaic tile artwork, these grasshoppers are among the most beautifully marked. The complex patterns help them blend into sun-dappled vegetation. They are typically found in a variety of habitats, including grasslands, fields, and open, brushy areas.
Mottled Sand Grasshoppers
Perfectly adapted for life on the ground, this grasshopper has a color pattern that mimics sand, gravel, and dry soil. Its mottled appearance makes it virtually invisible when it sits still in its arid habitat. It is commonly found in deserts, sand dunes, and other very dry, open environments with sparse vegetation.
Moustached Grasshoppers
This grasshopper gets its common name from the dense cluster of small, hairlike structures on the underside of its head, which resembles a tiny moustache. It is a robust, often flightless species that is commonly found in short-grass prairies and dry, open habitats where it feeds on a variety of grasses.
Muzzle-faced Grasshoppers
This group has a uniquely shaped head that appears to jut forward, creating a “muzzle-like” profile. This distinctive head shape, combined with their often cryptic coloring, makes them easily identifiable. They are commonly found in a variety of grassy and weedy habitats across North America.