Pasture Spur-throat Grasshopper

Melanoplus confusus · Order: Orthoptera · Family: Acrididae

Also called: Pasture Grasshopper, Little Pasture Locust

No source yet on danger. We have no source yet on whether it bites, stings or damages anything.
Pasture Spur-throat Grasshopper
Photo: psweet, CC BY-SA

The pasture spur-throat grasshopper lives in North America.

Source: Wikipedia

How to recognize it

This grasshopper is recorded from North America.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it lives

It is found throughout North American habitats.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it comes from

Its native range includes North America.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it is found in the US

Recorded in 39 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Colorado, Michigan, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Utah, Nebraska.

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

Source: GBIF

Status: native in North America; native in Canada. Source: iNaturalist

Months it is reported in the US

JFMAMJJASOND

Source: GBIF

More photos

Pasture Spur-throat Grasshopper photo 3
Photo: Joey Bom, CC BY
Pasture Spur-throat Grasshopper photo 4
Photo: Matt Pelikan, CC BY
Pasture Spur-throat Grasshopper photo 5
Photo: Matt Pelikan, CC BY
Pasture Spur-throat Grasshopper photo 6
Photo: Matt Pelikan, 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/Melanoplus_confusus

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

Text written 2026-10-23 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-23.

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.