Carolina Grasshopper

The Carolina grasshopper is one of the most widely recognized band-winged grasshoppers in North America, found across nearly the entire continent from southern Canada to Mexico. It is especially common along dirt roads, gravel paths, and other areas of bare or sparsely vegetated ground, which has earned it the nickname "road duster" in some regions.

At rest, this grasshopper is superbly camouflaged, with mottled gray-brown forewings that closely match dry soil, gravel, and pavement. Its true identity is revealed only in flight, when the broad black hindwings, bordered by a pale yellow band, flash into view, making the grasshopper appear briefly dramatic before it lands and vanishes again against the ground.

The species is a familiar sight to hikers and anyone walking along dry trails or roadsides in summer, often flushing up suddenly underfoot with a crackling sound produced during flight, then gliding a short distance before dropping back to the ground and disappearing into the substrate once more.

• Mottled gray-brown forewings that closely match dry soil and gravel.
• Broad black hindwings bordered by a pale yellow or cream band, visible only in flight.
• Medium to large body size with a somewhat flattened profile.
• Males may produce a crackling or clicking sound in flight (crepitation).
• Prefers to perch on bare ground rather than vegetation.
• Distinguished from other band-winged grasshoppers by the specific combination of hindwing color pattern and habitat preference for bare, dusty ground.

This species ranges across almost all of North America, from southern Canada through the continental United States and into Mexico, favoring open, disturbed habitats with sparse vegetation such as dirt roads, gravel paths, dry fields, riverbanks, and construction sites. Adults are most active during the warmer months, from summer into early fall.

Carolina grasshoppers feed on a variety of grasses and low-growing plants, though they spend much of their time resting on bare ground rather than actively grazing dense vegetation. When flushed, they take flight abruptly, often producing an audible crackling sound, and display their contrasting hindwing pattern before gliding back down and re-settling on similarly colored ground, relying on camouflage to avoid further detection. As common grassland and open-ground insects, they serve as prey for birds and other predators.

Eggs are laid in pods in bare or sparsely vegetated soil during late summer and fall, overwintering before hatching in late spring. Nymphs develop through incomplete metamorphosis over several instars during the summer, maturing into winged adults by mid to late summer. There is generally one generation per year across most of the range.