Bug FAQCommon Mountain Grasshopper
Podisma pedestris · Order: Orthoptera · Family: Acrididae
Adult males are 17 to 25 mm long and females 24 to 30 mm, with dark-brown to yellow bodies marked by black and yellow transverse stripes on the abdomen. They live in dry meadows, rocky mountain slopes, alpine pastures and forest clearings from mid-June through October across most of Europe and the eastern Palearctic region.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
A dark stripe runs from the eye to the pronotum, hind-leg femora are reddish, tibiae bluish with white spines.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
Males reach 17 to 25 mm and females 24 to 30 mm in length.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
Found in dry meadows, rocky mountain slopes, alpine pastures and forest clearings.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
Feeds on grasses and other herbaceous plants.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
Females lay their eggs on the ground.
Source: Wikipedia
When you see it
Adults are active from mid-June through October.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
Native to most of Europe and the eastern Palearctic, extending into temperate mainland East Asia.
Source: Wikipedia
Lookalikes
Both sexes have very short, oval vestigial wings that cannot be used for flight, though some individuals may develop longer wings.
Source: Wikipedia
More photos
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Same family (Acrididae)
Differential GrasshopperMelanoplus differentialisDamages trees, gardens or crops
Two-striped GrasshopperMelanoplus bivittatusDamages trees, gardens or crops
Carolina GrasshopperDissosteira carolinaDamages trees, gardens or crops
Common Field GrasshopperChorthippus brunneus
Egyptian Bird GrasshopperAnacridium aegyptium
Gray Bird GrasshopperSchistocerca nitensDamages trees, gardens or cropsSources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podisma_pedestris
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-23 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-22.