North American spur-throated grasshoppers
(Melanoplus spp.)
Information
Overview • Description • Distribution • Taxonomy
Overview
Melanoplus is the largest genus of grasshoppers in the world. It is known at least in North America as “North American spur-throated grasshoppers,” but not all species occur on this continent. There are at least 369 species of Melanoplus worldwide, at least 239 species in North America north of Mexico, and at least 27 species in Minnesota. The genus is likely to be split in the future into nine to nineteen or even more genera.
Adults and nymphs feed on mostly leaves, but also flowers, fruit, and bark, of mostly broad-leaved forbs and shrubs, but some feed on grasses, some on trees.
Description
Adults can be small to relatively large, and may be brown, green, gray, or yellow. All have a spur below between the bases of their front legs. The top of the head is rounded in profile. The face is vertical or only slightly slanted. There is usually a dark stripe behind each compound eye that continues on the upper plate covering the thorax (pronotum). The pronotum is broadly convex above and is often slightly ridged.
Distribution
Sources
Biodiversity occurrence data published by: Minnesota Biodiversity Atlas (accessed through the Minnesota Biodiversity Atlas Portal, bellatlas.umn.edu. Accessed 1/29/2026).
Haarstad, J. 1990. The Acrididae of Minnesota. Final report submitted to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. 28 pp.
Hebard, Morgan. (1932). The Orthoptera of Minnesota. University of Minnesota. Minnesota Agricultural Experiment Station. Retrieved from the University of Minnesota Digital Conservancy, https://hdl.handle.net/11299/204015.
Taxonomy
Order
Orthoptera (Grasshoppers, Crickets, and Katydids)
Suborder
Caelifera (Grasshoppers, Locusts, and Allies)
Infraorder
Acrididea (Grasshoppers)
Nanorder
Acridomorpha
Superfamily
Acridoidea (Short-horned Grasshoppers and Locusts)
Family
Acrididae (Short-horned Grasshoppers)
Subfamily
Melanoplinae (Spur-throated Grasshoppers)
Tribe
Melanoplini
Subordinate Taxa
Bruner’s spur-throat grasshopper (Melanoplus bruneri) 
Dawson’s grasshopper (Melanoplus dawsoni)
differential grasshopper (Melanoplus differentialis)
flabellate grasshopper (Melanoplus occidentalis)
forest locust (Melanoplus islandicus)
Gladston’s spur-throat grasshopper (Melanoplus gladstoni)
graceful grasshopper (Melanoplus gracilis)
green-legged grasshopper (Melanoplus viridipes)
green-legged grasshopper (Melanoplus supersp. viridipes)
huckleberry grasshopper (Melanoplus fasciatus)
Huron short-wing grasshopper (Melanoplus huroni)
Keeler’s spur-throat grasshopper (Melanoplus keeleri-luridus)
little spur-throat grasshopper (Melanoplus infantilis)
migratory grasshopper (Melanoplus sanguinipes)
narrow-winged spur-throat grasshopper (Melanoplus angustipennis)
northern spur-throat grasshopper (Melanoplus borealis)
Packard’s grasshopper (Melanoplus packardii)
pasture grasshopper (Melanoplus confusus)
pine tree spur-throat grasshopper (Melanoplus punctulatus-griseus)
ponderous spur-throat grasshopper (Melanoplus ponderosus)
red-legged grasshopper (Melanoplus femurrubrum)
Scudder’s short-wing grasshopper (Melanoplus scudderi)
Stone’s grasshopper (Melanoplus stonei)
striped sand grasshopper (Melanoplus foedus)
two-striped grasshopper (Melanoplus bivittatus)
Walsh’s short-wing grasshopper (Melanoplus walshii)
Yarrow’s grasshopper (Melanoplus yarrowii)
yellowish spur-throat grasshopper (Melanoplus flavidus)
Synonyms
Common Names
North American spur-throated grasshoppers
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Sightings
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Alfredo Colon
6/19/2024
Location: Albany, NY
Alfredo Colon
8/5/2022
Location: Albany, NY
Alfredo Colon
8/7/2019
Location: Woodbury, MN
Alfredo Colon
8/6/2019
Location: Woodbury, MN
Alfredo Colon
8/4/2019
Location: Woodbury, MN
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