Differential Grasshopper

The differential grasshopper is a large-bodied, short-horned grasshopper native to central and southern North America, though its range has expanded with agricultural land use. It is one of the largest and most economically significant grasshopper species on the continent, capable of forming dense aggregations that feed heavily on crops, garden plants, and weeds during outbreak years.

Adults are yellowish to olive-brown with a distinctive black chevron, or herringbone, pattern along the outer face of the enlarged hind femur, a feature that gives the species its common name and makes it one of the easier grasshoppers to identify at a glance. It is closely related to the two-striped grasshopper and often found alongside it in similar habitats.

This species thrives in disturbed, weedy habitats such as field edges, ditches, and riverbanks, and is well adapted to agricultural landscapes, which has helped it become a familiar and sometimes abundant insect across much of the central United States and northern Mexico.

• Large, robust body, among the biggest grasshoppers in its range.
• Yellowish-green to olive body color, often with a somewhat mottled appearance.
• Distinctive black herringbone (chevron) markings on the outer surface of the swollen hind femur.
• Hind tibiae are typically yellow.
• Wings extend to or slightly beyond the tip of the abdomen.
• Distinguished from the similar two-striped grasshopper by the herringbone leg pattern rather than pale dorsal stripes.

Found widely across the central and southern United States and into Mexico, the differential grasshopper favors weedy, disturbed habitats including crop field margins, pastures, roadsides, ditch banks, and riverbanks. It is especially common in areas with abundant broadleaf weeds and tall grasses, and often becomes locally abundant in late summer.

This species feeds on a wide variety of plants, including grasses, broadleaf weeds, and many cultivated crops, making it one of the more economically important grasshopper pests in its range. Adults and nymphs often aggregate in large numbers along field edges before dispersing into crops. As with other grasshoppers, it plays a role in grassland and old-field ecosystems as both a plant consumer and prey for birds, small mammals, and predatory insects.

Eggs are laid in pods in the soil during late summer and fall and overwinter, hatching the following late spring. Nymphs develop through incomplete metamorphosis over several instars during summer, reaching adulthood by mid to late summer. There is a single generation per year, with peak adult abundance typically occurring in late summer and early fall.