Post Oak Grasshopper (mating)

Considering that we live about .25 miles from Post Oak Bend City (population 400), the name is quite apropos!

Thanks for the comments and the links! I worked at a Girl Scout Camp over 20 years ago - about 30 miles east of here - and we had these grasshoppers in Biblical plague proportions. To see a tree completely covered with mating pairs was normal for the first half of the summer... the following summer, the population was quite subdued in comparison. After reading your U of Ark link - I see that this is a normal pattern for them. There are several of them out here, but having lived in this area for 2.5 years, this is the first time I've seen a mating pair. I've never seen small (baby/nymph) versions - always this size (about 1-1.25" long) - never smaller, never bigger. The hind legs are quite striking. I have another spotting of an individual (which I can now identify!) where the chevrons on the hind legs are quite an impressive design in contrast to the maroon coloring.

I also found this: http://www.uark.edu/ua/arthmuse/denque.h...

It is a very pretty grasshopper.

especially like the second and fifth shots!