Two-Striped Grasshopper

Haha, I'm pretty sure of it now!

Welcome. But note, that when I write: "I think it is definitely not ...", does not mean than I am always 100% correct! OK, maybe in this case a little bit ;-)...

Bayucca thanks for the astounding detail! I just had a big, "Oh!" moment! I now understand your perspective! Thanks for taking the time to deal with my obstinancy!

I think it is definitely not Femurrubrum (FR). Differences in my eyes: "knee" color is green in yours (BV) and black in FR. The eye in FR is much bigger than in yours. There is actually no red femur in yours, whereas, like the name is standing for, a distinctive red femur in FR. Strong black markings on the "plate" behind the head in FR, but not in BV. All over colors in yours and BV is green, not brown/brownish like in FR.

Here is another M. femurrubrum:

http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/701...

Here is M. bivittatus:

http://www.biokids.umich.edu/files/6223/...

One other thing I have noticed is that M. femurrubrum is consistently green, while M. bivittatus is not.

Here is M. Femurrubrum:

http://lh4.ggpht.com/OKu8Yfw0dthkW2DUtnd...

Good point, Bayucca. I did not acknowledge the femur/tibia anatomical facts. Bayucca, I'll look into some bivittatus/femurrubrum links and post them here, and you can compare. Do you know of any "hopperists?"

Taking the same arguments, the link in your last comment might also be Bivittatus and not Femurrubrum???

You may be right. If you look at other Bivittatus you may see also red legs. Let's go a little bit deeper in anatomy: Femur is the thigh or upper leg between the body and the tibia, the lower leg. It is fully packed with muscles, so it is a little arnipod. According to the name it should be red/reddish (ruber/rubrum). Yours is completely green and only the tibia is red. So why call this one Femurrubrum if the femur is clearly green?? I think you need a hopperist to get the definitive species.

Heres another link:

http://www.nhmountainhiking.com/hike/lis...

Bayucca, I am thinking the red hind legs suggest. Melanoplus femurrubrum:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melanoplus_...

What do you think?

Yes, though I do understand where you are coming from--sometimes what appears to be color variation is actually a totally different species!! Thanks again !!

Welcome! Color variation is indeed quite common and it is often tricky to separate variation/variability of a different species.

I see what you are talking about. The darker stripes appear to me to be just color variations, but I am definitely no expert. :) thanks again for all the links as well as the ID!

Here are some other pictures:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/38730918@N0...
http://somethingscrawlinginmyhair.com/20...
http://www.opsu.edu/Academics/SciMathNur...
http://whatafy.com/the-locust-the-greedi...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Two-st...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/meeyauw/678...
http://www.lloydspitalnikphotos.com/v/ot...
Some of them have some darker stripes on the legs. I do not know if this is important for separating.