Have you ever stopped to look closely at grasshoppers? They come in all shapes, sizes, and colors. I spotted this elongated one with fluted, unicorn-like antennae this past week at Occoquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. I knew that I had seen one like this before, but could not recall its name. After some research, I rediscovered that it is the colorfully-named Cattail Toothpick Grasshopper (Leptysma marginicollis).
If you try chasing grasshoppers, you will discover that they often stay in place after the first hop, giving you a chance to examine them for a moment before they hop away.
So whether you are in your backyard or in a park, be sure to check out the grasshoppers. You might be surprised by what you discover.
© Michael Q. Powell. All rights reserved.
Mike Powell 
That is cool !!!!
Thanks, Ted. I suspect that there are guys that geek out as much on grasshoppers as I do on dragonflies. The diversity of species of insects never fails to amaze me.
That’s a new one to me. Nice shot.
I have no idea how widespread these are, Steve, but I am happy that I remembered that I had seen one before, even if I couldn’t remember its name initially.
Re; your comment to Ted above, I have a Facebook friend who is just that…a Orthopteran freak. If you’d like I’ll share his timeline with you.
You are welcome to do so, Steve.
Actually he likes all insects but especially othopterans.
https://www.facebook.com/matt.pelikan.5/photos
Cool grasshopper!
Blue Rock Horses Frederick County, Virginia bluerockhorses.com
Nice Mike! Never saw one like this before!
Very cool indeed. At first glance I thought it might be a kind of katydid. Another example of the incredibly inexhaustible diversity around us.
Most of the katydids with which I am familiar have really long antennae, like the insect that is arguably my all-time favorite insect–the Handsome Meadow Katydid. Here’s a link to a posting with a photo of one of them. https://michaelqpowell.com/2013/08/06/rainbow-grasshopper/
I have to agree. And here’s one I saw in Omaha: https://krikitarts.wordpress.com/2016/08/30/green-on-green-2/
I may post soon another odd member of the grasshopper family, a critter that the folks at bugguide.net have identified as a member of the Tettigidea family, a group known as pygmy grasshoppers.
Oh, I looked again and see that you already saw it when I posted it, and commented. Thanks again!
I’ve never heard of this one. You got a nice shot of it!
Thanks. As I noted, there are all kinds of different grasshoppers, katydids, and similar insects waiting for us to photograph.
huh! Toothpick, not unicorn?
I’m in favor of unicorn, particularly because the angle at which I took the shot makes it look like the grasshopper has a single horn.
I have never seen one like this! Very streamlined.
Today, I saw my first grasshopper instar of the season. It was very tiny, about 1/8th of an inch!
Never seen one of these before!
What a bizarre critter. Nature at Her most playful.
It’s a lot more fun with diversity like this. It keeps me going out with my camera, because I never know what bizarre or curious creature I will encounter.
A wonderful grasshopper that also caught my eye in the wild. I like how well you expressed the toothpick aspect of this amazing creature, Mike.
Thanks, Jet. Once again you have reinforced the notion that we are kindred spirits in the way that we observe and experience nature.