Bug FAQLamenting Grasshopper
Eyprepocnemis plorans · Order: Orthoptera · Family: Acrididae
The Lamenting Grasshopper is a medium-sized grasshopper, females reaching about 4.5 cm and males slightly smaller. It lives in wet places such as marshes, reed beds, riverbanks and even some man-made wet habitats. It mainly eats grasses and sedges, like most grasshoppers that feed on many kinds of vegetation.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
Its body is generally greyish-brown, with hind-leg femurs showing green, blue and yellow stripes, and the hind tibia having a reddish or bluish shine plus black and white spines.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
Females grow to about 4.5 cm (1.8 in) long, while males are a bit shorter.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
It feeds mainly on grasses and sedges, and like other grasshoppers it can eat a wide range of plant material.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
The female lays an egg pod in the soil, which hatches in spring; the nymphs molt five times and become adults by summer without undergoing metamorphosis.
Source: Wikipedia
When you see it
In many parts of its range adults can survive the winter, and the population size changes with the seasons.
Source: Wikipedia
Lookalikes
Its eye has a longitudinal dark streak, a feature it shares with Anacridium aegyptium, Heteracris annulosa and Heteracris adspersa.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 1 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Mississippi.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
More photos
Questions people ask
What does the Lamenting Grasshopper look like?
It is greyish-brown with green, blue and yellow stripes on the hind-leg femurs and a reddish or bluish shine on the hind tibia, plus black and white spines.
Source: Wikipedia
Where can I find this grasshopper?
It lives in wet habitats such as marshes, reed beds, riverbanks, coastal vegetation and some man-made wet areas.
Source: Wikipedia
What does it eat?
It mainly eats grasses and sedges, though grasshoppers in general will eat many kinds of plants.
Source: Wikipedia
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/Eyprepocnemis_plorans
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-22 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-22.