Leather-colored Bird Grasshopper

Schistocerca alutacea · Order: Orthoptera · Family: Acrididae

Also called: Leather-colored Bird Locust

No source yet on danger. We have no source yet on whether it bites, stings or damages anything.
Leather-colored Bird Grasshopper
Photo: James Stevens, CC BY

Its distribution covers a wide swath of the country, spanning the Northeast, Southwest, and Southeast regions.

Source: Wikipedia

How to recognize it

This species is recorded in the United States, ranging from Massachusetts through Arizona to Florida.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it lives

It is found throughout the United States, from Massachusetts down to Arizona and across to Florida.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it comes from

Schistocerca alutacea is native to the United States, with records from Massachusetts, Arizona, and Florida.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it is found in the US

Recorded in 23 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Florida, New Mexico, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Connecticut, Texas, Illinois.

Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.

Source: GBIF

Months it is reported in the US

JFMAMJJASOND

Source: GBIF

More photos

Leather-colored Bird Grasshopper photo 2
Photo: Thomas Koffel, CC BY
Leather-colored Bird Grasshopper photo 3
Photo: Sam Kieschnick, CC BY
Leather-colored Bird Grasshopper photo 4
Photo: iNaturalist user, CC0
Leather-colored Bird Grasshopper photo 5
Photo: Catherine C. Galley, CC BY

Same family (Acrididae)

Differential GrasshopperDifferential GrasshopperMelanoplus differentialisDamages trees, gardens or cropsTwo-striped GrasshopperTwo-striped GrasshopperMelanoplus bivittatusDamages trees, gardens or cropsCarolina GrasshopperCarolina GrasshopperDissosteira carolinaDamages trees, gardens or cropsCommon Field GrasshopperCommon Field GrasshopperChorthippus brunneusEgyptian Bird GrasshopperEgyptian Bird GrasshopperAnacridium aegyptiumGray Bird GrasshopperGray Bird GrasshopperSchistocerca nitensDamages trees, gardens or crops

Sources

  • Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schistocerca_alutacea

Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia

Text written 2026-10-25 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-25.

How this page works

This is one bug's fact sheet. The colored box at the top says whether it is dangerous. Sections below cover how to recognize it, whether it is a pest, and how to deal with it. The US map shows which states have records; tap a state to see other bugs there.

Every fact on Bug FAQ comes from a named source (university extension sites, government agencies, GBIF, iNaturalist, Wikipedia). The source is linked next to each section. If we have no source for something, we leave it out.