Painted Grasshopper

The painted grasshopper is a large, conspicuous grasshopper found across the Indian subcontinent, easily recognized by its striking bands of green, yellow, and black. Unlike most well-camouflaged grasshoppers, it relies on bright warning coloration to advertise its unpalatability to predators, a strategy known as aposematism.

This distastefulness comes largely from its diet: the species feeds heavily on Calotropis and other milkweed-family plants, sequestering plant toxins in its body. Both adults and the equally colorful nymphs can also release a foul-smelling defensive froth when disturbed.

• Robust, large-bodied grasshopper, 5–7 cm long
• Bright green or yellow ground color crossed with bold black stripes and bands
• Legs often marked with alternating black and yellow bands
• Wings relatively short in some individuals and do not always fully conceal the colorful abdomen
• Nymphs are wingless but share the same vivid warning coloration as adults

Found in arid and semi-arid scrubland, wastelands, roadside vegetation, and gardens across India, Pakistan, and neighboring parts of South Asia, wherever Calotropis (milkweed) and related plants grow.

Feeds primarily on Calotropis and other toxic milkweed-family plants, from which it derives chemical defenses. When disturbed it can spray a foul-smelling defensive froth from spiracles along its body. It is a relatively slow-moving, conspicuous insect that relies on warning coloration rather than concealment, and can occasionally be found feeding on garden ornamentals.

Eggs are laid in pods in soil. Nymphs hatch already brightly colored and wingless, and pass through several instars while retaining their warning pattern before molting into winged adults. In warm climates the species can produce more than one generation per year.