Bug Identifier

Bug Encyclopedia

Search and identify bugs & insects — beetles, butterflies, moths, ants, bees, spiders and more — with size, habitat, danger, behavior, and how to tell them apart.

Grasshopper

Grasshopper

A robust, strong-jumping insect with short antennae and powerful hind legs, commonly seen springing away through grass and low vegetation on warm sunny days.

grasshopper-cricket
American Grasshopper

American Grasshopper

A large, strong-flying grasshopper related to the locusts of the Old World, the American grasshopper can occasionally form dense, damaging aggregations across the southern United States.

grasshopper-cricket
Differential Grasshopper

Differential Grasshopper

A large, robust grasshopper with a bold black herringbone pattern etched along its swollen hind legs, the differential grasshopper is one of the biggest and most recognizable pest grasshoppers in North America.

grasshopper-cricket
Green Grasshopper

Green Grasshopper

A bright grass-green grasshopper with a rasping, sustained song, the common green grasshopper is one of the most familiar sounds of a European summer meadow.

grasshopper-cricket
Painted Grasshopper

Painted Grasshopper

A large, boldly striped grasshopper of South Asia whose vivid green, yellow, and black pattern warns predators that it has fed on toxic milkweed plants.

grasshopper-cricket
Pygmy Grasshopper

Pygmy Grasshopper

A tiny, ground-hugging grasshopper with an elongated pronotum extending back over its body, often found hopping along muddy pond edges.

grasshopper-cricket
Carolina Grasshopper

Carolina Grasshopper

Well camouflaged against dusty ground until it bursts into flight, the Carolina grasshopper flashes broad black hindwings edged in pale yellow before dropping back into invisibility.

grasshopper-cricket
Lubber Grasshopper

Lubber Grasshopper

Heavy-bodied and slow-moving, lubber grasshoppers make up for their poor flying ability with large size, bold coloring, and a lumbering, ground-bound lifestyle.

grasshopper-cricket
Red-legged Grasshopper

Red-legged Grasshopper

One of the most abundant and widespread grasshoppers in North America, the red-legged grasshopper is easily spotted by its reddish hind shins flashing amid a brown, mottled body.

grasshopper-cricket
Blue-winged Grasshopper

Blue-winged Grasshopper

A drab, camouflaged grasshopper that startles onlookers with a sudden flash of bright blue hindwings the instant it takes flight.

grasshopper-cricket
Band-winged Grasshopper

Band-winged Grasshopper

A camouflaged grasshopper that flashes vivid yellow, red, or blue hindwings in flight before vanishing again into the dust the instant it lands.

grasshopper-cricket
Spur-throated Grasshopper

Spur-throated Grasshopper

One of the most familiar grasshopper groups in North America, named for the small spine on its throat and known for including some of the continent's most abundant rangeland species.

grasshopper-cricket
Eastern Lubber Grasshopper

Eastern Lubber Grasshopper

One of the largest grasshoppers in North America, the eastern lubber is a slow, flightless giant clad in bold black, yellow, and red that announces its presence rather than hiding from it.

grasshopper-cricket
Two-striped Grasshopper

Two-striped Grasshopper

Easily spotted by the pair of pale cream stripes running the length of its body, the two-striped grasshopper is one of the largest and most economically important grasshoppers in North America.

grasshopper-cricket
Locust

Locust

A large, powerful grasshopper capable of transforming from a solitary, harmless insect into a densely packed, migrating swarm when populations surge, historically famous for devastating crops across huge regions.

grasshopper-cricket
Rocky Mountain Locust

Rocky Mountain Locust

Once the most destructive insect in North American history, this swarming grasshopper vanished within a few decades of forming the largest insect swarm ever recorded.

grasshopper-cricket
Katydid

Katydid

A leaf-mimicking insect with broad, veined green wings shaped remarkably like foliage, best known for the loud, rhythmic 'katy-did, katy-didn't' chorus males produce on warm summer nights.

grasshopper-cricket
Migratory Locust

Migratory Locust

A grasshopper with a split personality, the migratory locust can switch from a quiet, solitary green insect into a boldly marked swarming form that travels in enormous, crop-devouring bands.

grasshopper-cricket
Desert Locust

Desert Locust

A large, powerful grasshopper capable of forming some of the most extensive and historically devastating insect swarms on Earth, transforming from a solitary desert dweller into a densely packed migrating horde under the right conditions.

grasshopper-cricket