A pink grasshopper is already a rare sight. Caused by a genetic condition called erythrism, it gives these insects their extraordinary rosy color. But while sorting through my photos recently, I noticed something even stranger: Unlike their green siblings, pink grasshoppers surprisingly often have only five legs instead of the usual six!
At first, I thought this must be a coincidence. It seemed unlikely that there would be a genetic link between their unusual color and their missing limbs. But what was the correlation?
Where did the leg go?
Life as a grasshopper is anything but easy. They can lose a leg during a predator attack, in a fight with other grasshoppers, or even by “dropping” it themselves (a process called autotomy) to escape danger. Unlike some lizards, their legs never grow back. So it goes without saying that they don’t make a habit of this. Then why is it that pink grasshoppers so often appear five-legged?
Neon lights
The most likely explanation is camouflage, or rather, the lack of it. As pink creatures in a mostly green world, these grasshoppers stand out like neon lights in the meadow. No wonder they’re spotted and caught far more often than their camouflaged colleagues. This might also explain why most of the pink grasshoppers I’ve found were still nymphs (baby grasshoppers): Sadly, many pink individuals might never reach adulthood.
Conclusion: a pink grasshopper is already rare, and one with six legs even more so!
And he mystery of the pink grasshoppers continues.
(Pink) Grasshopper fun facts
- The word erythrism comes from the Greek erythros (ερυθρός), meaning red.
- Grasshoppers molt about five times as they grow. But a pink one will never “shed” its color. The new exoskeleton has this same genetically determined color. So, like albinism or melanism, the color is part of its pink blueprint and the genetic mutation, erythrism, ensures every new skin is just as pink.
- Did you know that some grasshoppers can actually hear with their legs? In katydids, the ears are located in the front legs. Through these vibration-sensitive organs they capture sound vibrations, which they convert into signals for the auditory nerves.
Want to learn more about this unusual color mutation? Read my full story:
• The Pink Grasshopper | A Story about Erythrism and Being Different
• Phenomenon Erythrism
•To read more about missing legs, please read my Where Did the Other Leg Go? | A Sanderling (Calidris alba) Mystery
i saw a pink grasshopper in serbia but it has 6 legs
Sounds like a healthy hopper to me and a good, rare find for you! 😀