Species Schistocerca obscura - Obscure Bird Grasshopper

males 36-45 mm; females 50-65 mm

body green with gray or reddish-brown forewings; side of knee bright green, yellow, or whitish, conspicuously contrasting against black on dorsolateral edge of knee; similarly-colored spot on side of thorax behind pronotum; top of hindfemur has two black bars; usually has pale yellow dorsal stripe, sometimes lacking in females

southern United States, into southwest: Pennsylvania south to Florida, west to Kansas, Texas, New Mexico, southern Arizona

fields and open woodlands

summer to early fall; August-October (North Carolina)

This is a member of the "Alutacea" Group, which includes several very closely related populations that are treated by some authors all as subspecies of S. alutacea, by other authors as all distinct species, but which are most often grouped as several subspecies included within a few species. S. obscura is one of the more easily recognized of the group, but is still sometimes difficult to tell from S. alutacea and S. lineata, and it is very closely similar in morphology to S. albolineata.

S. albalineata in southwest is very similar.

Capinera, Field Guide to Grasshoppers..., pp. 146-147, plate 31 (1)

Capinera, Grasshoppers of Florida, p. 124, plate 100 (2)

Helfer, pp. 189-190, fig. 307 (3)

Brimley, p. 25 (4)

Giff Beaton

Georgia Coastal Ecosystems

live adult image by Bill Brower, plus classification, references, and drawing of male subgenital plate (Orthoptera Species File)

live images of nymphs and adult (Hojun Song, Brigham Young U., schistocerca.org)