Field Guide

The lesser angle-winged katydid is one of our common species of so-called false katydids. Its song is a single 3-5-pulsed rattle, with about a second of silence between each rattle.

The olive-green swamp grasshopper lives on pond edges and wetlands where the vegetation is thick and lush. It has rather long antennae, for a short-horned grasshopper.

The Carolina grasshopper is frequently seen in dusty, open habitats like dirt roads and vacant lots. Its yellow-bordered, black hindwings make it look like a mourning cloak butterfly.

The lichen grasshopper sticks to sunny, rocky areas, such as the many rocky glades and hilltops in the Ozarks, where lichens are plentiful. It is perfectly camouflaged there.

The three-banded grasshopper is one of our most attractively marked grasshoppers, with three sharply marked dark bands.

House crickets are probably native to Eurasia but are found nearly worldwide, having traveled the globe with people. Unlike most other field crickets in our area, they are tan and brown instead of glossy black.

About six species of bird grasshoppers occur in Missouri. Most are attractively marked, large insects that gracefully fly from danger, almost like birds.

The American bird grasshopper is a large grasshopper with ornate markings. It is a good flier that floats upward into trees. Note the pale stripe running down the back.

The pine tree spur-throat grasshopper usually lives in wooded areas, where its mottled, brownish-gray camouflage protects it when it rests on tree trunks.

Members of the pygmy grasshopper family are small and have a distinctively elongated pronotum — this plate, which only covers the shoulders of most other grasshoppers, extends back to cover the abdomen in this family. Most live along streams and in other wet habitats.