Clear-winged grasshopper (Camnula pellucida)

Camnula pellucida Clear-winged grasshopper
Distribution
Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho, Nevada, Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Rhode Island, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Yukon, Northwest Territories, Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia
Taxonomy
Family:	Acrididae
Subfamily:	Oedipodinae
Genus:	Camnula
Additional resources
Full taxonomy at OSF

The clear-winged grasshopper (Camnula pellucida) is abundantly distributed across the northern United States and southern Canada, particularly in grasslands and agricultural areas. It is most notably identified by its clear hind wings. This species primarily feeds on grasses and cereal crops, making it one of the three most destructive agricultural pests in this region. Its populations are especially influenced by temperature, as well as other environmental factors like moisture, and food availability. During outbreaks, large swarms can cause extensive damage to crops and rangelands, leading to economic concerns for farmers and land managers.

Nomenclature

Camnula pellucida (Scudder, 1862). For full nomenclature, see this taxon's page on Orthoptera Species File

Identification

The clear-winged grasshopper is a species of band-winged grasshoppers (subfamily Oedipodinae, family Acrididae), which are a distinctive feature of the semi-arid grasslands of North America. Anatomically, they are easily recognized by their large, lobed hindwings, often marked with spots or bands—features that set them apart from other grasshopper subfamilies. These hindwings also play a role in their behavior; many species produce a loud snapping crepitation during flight, which can be heard from across a pasture or field, making them identifiable even to those unfamiliar with insect taxonomy.

The band-winged grasshoppers form a distinct yet highly diverse group. While most species are harmless and should not be targets of control, the group also includes some of the most destructive pest species, like the clear-winged grasshopper. It ranges from delicate, inconspicuous grasshoppers to the largest and most visually striking ones in North America.

The clear-winged grasshopper is mottled gray-brown or yellowish with clear hind wings. The top of the body has a narrow ridge that may be cut by a shallow groove. Its front wings are usually spotted, and the back legs are yellowish and have two dark bands on the upper segments.

Although similar in appearance to other genera within the tribe Hippiscini, this species can be distinguished by its lack of brightly colored hind wings, which are present in all other members of the tribe, and by its generally smaller size. It may be mistaken for Encoptolophus species, but those typically have blue or dark-colored hind tibiae and lack the panther-like pattern on the tegmina. Some spur-throated grasshoppers, especially Melanoplus species, might look alike at a glance, but can be identified by their different coloration and the presence of a noticeable spur between the front legs.

Identification details

The clear-winged grasshopper has a small to medium sized body. Their color is generally mottled light brown, gray, or yellowish with a dark spot behind the eye on the head, and a dark vertical spot on the front half of the lateral lobe of the pronotum. The pronotum has a flat, smooth disc that is wider at the rear and truncated at the front. The median carina is low, of consistent height, and faintly indented by a sulcus ahead of the middle. The lateral lobes are deeper than they are long. The tegmina are narrow and extend beyond the apex of the abdomen. The tegmina are smoky brown, with light and dark patches on the sides, and darker on the dorsal surface, with a yellowish stripe along the humeral angle. The stripe extends from the bases to the tips that form a narrow “V” when viewed from above. The hind wings are transparent with dark veins. The hind femur is yellowish-brown, darker at the apex, and faintly marked with dark bars. The tibia is yellowish-brown, and the abdomen is yellowish beneath, with darker sides. Clear-winged grasshoppers appear lighter in color as they age, and adults of these species turn yellow when they are sexually active.

First-instar nymphs are boldly marked with black bars. Later instars exhibit minimal variation in body color, typically displaying shades of brown, tan, and black. They often have a yellow underbelly. The pronotum features an unnotched ridge called a carina, and a dark bar extends from below the antennae bases through the eyes. See page 26 of Shell et al. 2005 for an image.

The clear-winged grasshopper are the only band-winged grasshopper with translucent hind wings and can be identified by this characteristic. However, this species is similar in appearance to the spur-throated grasshoppers which also have clear wings, but can be differentiated as spur-throated grasshoppers have a spur ventrally between head and thorax. The blue-legged grasshopper (Metator pardalinus) and other similar-sized band-winged species resemble C. pellucida but have colored hind wings.

Identification details

Instar	Color	Wings	Body length	Hind femur	Antennal segment number	Description
Eggs	Light brown		4.7 mm
Egg Pod			16 mm long			Usually short, short and slightly curved
1	Cream, tan and black		4 to 6 mm	2.4 to 2.7 mm	11-13	boldy marked
2	shades of brown, tan, and black		5 to 7.1 mm	3.4 to 3.8 mm	14-16
3	shades of brown, tan, and black		7.3 to 8.9 mm	4.7 to 5.2 mm	18
4	shades of brown, tan, and black		10 to 14 mm	6 to 7.2 mm	20-22
5	shades of brown, tan, and black		14 to 20 mm	8.4 to 9.9 mm	22-25
Adult Males	mottled brown light brown	Tegmina smoky brown with light and dark patches, darker dorsally, and a yellowish stripe along the humeral angle; hind wings transparent with dark veins.	17-21 mm
Adult females	mottled brown light brown	Tegmina smoky brown with light and dark patches, darker dorsally, and a yellowish stripe along the humeral angle; hind wings transparent with dark veins.	19.5-28.5 mm 22- 25 mm
Sexually mature adult	Bright yellow

Featured identification resources

• 
  Band-winged grasshoppers of the Canadian Prairies and Northern Great Plains
• 
  ARS species fact sheet clearwinged grasshopper
• 
  Pest grasshoppers in Oregon
• 
  Common Wyoming Pest Grasshoppers

All identification resources

Name	Year published	Resource link	Descriptive keyword	Language	Geographic purview	Author	Year published
A Manual of the Grasshoppers of New Mexico	1993		Morphology, Biology, Life cycle, Natural history, Natural sciences, Behavior, Population dynamics, New Mexico, Management, estimation of grasshopper densities, insecticide, Biological control, New Mexico grasshoppers, Indigenous knowledge, History, county map distribution, Distribution, glossary, Species identification, annotated alphabetical list of New Mexico grasshoppers	English		New Mexico State University, New Mexico Cooperative Extension Service, D.B. Richman, D.C. Lightfoot, C.A. Sutherland, DJ. Ferguson	1993
ARS grasshopper species fact sheets	1994		Management, Species identification	English		Agricultural Research Services, United States Department of Agriculture	1994
Common Wyoming pest grasshoppers			Life cycle, Species identification, Biodiversity, Grasshoppers	English		University of Wyoming, Scott Schell, Alexandre Latchininsky, B.A. Shambaugh
Crickets and grasshoppers in Utah	1931		Morphology, Grasshoppers, History, Chemical control, insecticide, Outbreaks, Species identification	English		Utah State University	1931
Field crop and forage pests and their natural enemies in Western Canada	2018		Agriculturist guide, Education, Infographic, Management, Species identification, Integrated pest management	English		Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada	2018
Field Guide to Common Western Grasshoppers	2002		Species identification	English		United States Department of Agriculture, Robert E. Pfadt	2002
Field guide to grasshoppers of economic importance in Nevada			glossary, Photos, Species identification, Biology, Life cycle, Behavior, Pesticides, Survey, Integrated pest management, Biological control, Culture, Chemical control, Mechanical control, Economics	English		University of Nevada
Field guide to some of the common grasshoppers of the Front Range of Colorado			Agriculture, Behavior, Grasshoppers, Distribution, Species identification, Morphology, Photos, Biology, Overview	English		National Science Foundation
Grasshopper Identification and Control Methods to Protect Crops and the Environment	2010		Management, Species identification	English		Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada	2010
Grasshoppers of the Western United States			Management, Species identification	English		United States Department of Agriculture
Grasshoppers their habits and damage	1964		Grasshoppers, Outbreaks, Natural enemies, Ecology, Habitat, Quality illustrations, Species identification	English		United States Department of Agriculture	1964
Hopper helper			Survey, Life cycle, Species identification, Integrated pest management	English		Wendal Cushing
Insect answers	1990		Species identification, Rangeland management, Infestations, Management, Chemical control, Biological control, Survey, estimation of grasshopper densities, Control, insecticide, Biology, Livestock, Weather	English		Washington State University Extension, Daniel Suomi, Gary Thomasson, Dave Keim	1990
Montana.gov grasshopper field guides			Species identification, Management, Biology	English
Orthoptera of Northern Great Plains	2007		Information hub, Species identification, Taxonomy, Map, Photos, Nymphs	English		North Dakota State University	2007
Orthoptera Species File			Species identification, Biology	English		Orthoptera Species File Online
Pest grasshoppers in Oregon	2024		Species identification	English		Oregon Department of Agriculture, Thomas Valente, J. Buck Dunlap	2024
Pest Grasshoppers of the West	2005		Management, Species identification	English		University of Wyoming	2005
The grasshoppers and other orthoptera of Arizona	1942		Grasshoppers, Agriculture, Taxonomy, Behavior, Biology, Species identification	English		University of Arizona, E. Ball, E. R. Tinkham, Robert Flock, C. T. Vorhies	1942
The grasshoppers of Nebraska	2009		Species identification, Map, glossary, grasshopper development, Grasshoppers, Biology, grasshopper anatomy	English		University of Nebraska, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, Mathew L. Brust, Wyatt Hoback, Robert J. Wright	2009
The Grasshoppers of the Western U.S. Lucid mobile app	2016		Management, Species identification	English		APHIS PPQ Science & Technology Insect Management and Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory (Phoenix Station), United States Department of Agriculture, Center for Plant Health Science and Technology of the USDA, University of Nebraska, Chadron State College	2016
The Grasshoppers of the Western U.S. Lucid mobile app	2016		Management, Species identification	English		APHIS PPQ Science & Technology Insect Management and Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory (Phoenix Station), United States Department of Agriculture, Center for Plant Health Science and Technology of the USDA, University of Nebraska, Chadron State College	2016

Distribution

The clear-winged grasshopper ranges from Alaska to Nova Scotia down towards Mexico. It is common across most of Canada, especially in the Prairie Provinces. It also ranges through the northern and central United States and parts of the western states. Distribution also extends south along the Appalachians as far as Virginia.

Biology

Camnula pellucida is an early hatching univoltine species, overwintering in the egg stage with eggs hatching from May to early July. Males and females both have five instars. Development is rapid in ideal conditions of warmth, and good vegetation and can take from 26 to 40 days. Seasonally, eggs are laid from mid-summer to early fall and require time for embryonic development before winter for survival. Peak hatching typically occurs between May 15 and June 15, from egg pods predominantly laid in sod. Hatching occurs in mass numbers, typically peaking around noon, especially on warm days after rainfall. Females of this species tend to gather in groups and lay their eggs in the root crowns of sod-forming grasses.

Adults can aggregate in mating sites. In field cage studies, females produced an average of 180 eggs. Even with a single egg pod containing 10 to 38 eggs, they have the potential for a rapid population increase. Egg beds formed by females of these species may contain 3,000 to 10,000 eggs per square foot. Some habitats may be widely distributed over the entire infested area and hard to notice at first glance, in other areas eggs may be continuously laid at the same spot, resulting in a few spots with heavy concentrations.

Clear-winged grasshopper behavior is highly influenced by air temperatures. This relationship is important to understand as it informs outbreak control strategies to ensure treatments are delivered at opportune times and affect the most hopper individuals at once. A field that is swarming with grasshoppers at mid-day may not appear to contain a single grasshopper an hour after sundown. They are inactive on windy days or in completely still air. Optimal conditions for growth and reproduction are warm, sunny, and dry; cold or moist weather reduces egg-laying and delays development. Movement and migration stop at or below 70°F, and temperatures below 40°F are fatal. At 65–68°F, individuals bask and remain active as temperatures rise to 104°F. Peak mating occurs at 74–75°F, and poisoned bran bait is most effective when temperatures range from 71–77°F.

Neither sex crepitates in flight, but resting males produce "ordinary" stridulation using one or both femora. Courting males attract nearby females by performing femur-tipping, where they move or raise their femora in a specific way. Femur-tipping and shaking are also used as aggressive signals between males, signaling dominance or territory.

The clear-winged grasshopper exhibits strong migratory capabilities. Adults can undertake dispersal flights at both low and high altitudes, as well as long-distance migrations. Females frequently travel between feeding grounds and egg-laying sites for oviposition. Nymphs disperse from the egg beds to the nearest green vegetation, while older nymphs move in cohesive marching bands. Nymphs of this species have been estimated to disperse over 75ha from an egg site of 800 square meters before reaching maturity.

Habitat and ecology

The species is found in a variety of habitats, including grasslands, irrigated pastures, river valleys, mountain meadows. It is particularly common in disturbed areas like roadsides and grassy fields, earning it the unofficial name "roadside grasshopper". When it appears in crop fields, it typically migrates from these undisturbed locations and often returns to them to lay its eggs. It prefers undisturbed loam soils and lays eggs in barren, ungrazed areas, especially near hilltops and knolls. This species often becomes the dominant grasshopper in its preferred habitat, with populations rising from inconspicuous levels to high densities in as little as three years. Egg densities can reach or exceed 10,000 per square meter.

C. pellucida is a serious pest of grains and grasses. It shows a preference for cereal crops and succulent cultivated grasses and is especially damaging to barely and wheat. Other notable plants are western wheatgrass, Idaho fescue, smooth brome, Sandberg bluegrass, yarrow, carex, Junegrass, foxtail barley, needle grass, quackgrass, and bluegrass. It rarely feeds on broad-leaved plants like pulses and canola.

The clear-winged grasshopper is generally considered graminivorous, but in recent years it has also emerged as a significant threat to young canola plants. Although it doesn’t consume safflower leaves, it will chew through the stem just below the flower head, causing it to droop and potentially leading to greater yield loss than that caused by more aggressive Melanoplus species.

Dead individuals of this species are often seen clinging to vegetation, sometimes showing visible conidiophores from fungal infections belonging to the Entomophaga grylli complex (Entomophthorales: Entomophthoraceae).

Land-use change

The clear-winged grasshopper became abundant in the Prairie provinces in Canada around 1900, alongside the construction of roads, drainage and cultivation in Manitoba. This change in land-use created favorable breeding sites and an increase of preferred food sources, causing an abundance of clear-winged grasshoppers. Due to shifts in agricultural practices, there has been a decrease in population in Manitoba in recent years.

Pest status

The clear-winged grasshopper is a significant pest of forage grasses and small grains. It is one of the top dozen species monitored by USDA Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) because of its impact on rangelands. Populations fluctuate dramatically in both abundance and distribution. They can remain largely unseen for several years before gradually increasing over three to four years, reaching peak numbers within two to three more years. When adults swarm, they can also pose a threat to broadleaf crops. They are aggressive feeders on rangelands, with as few as 20 grasshoppers per square yard capable of consuming all available forage. During outbreaks, populations can expand from a small area of rangeland to over 2,000 square miles, consisting mainly of clear-winged grasshoppers. Densities exceeding 125 per square yard have been frequently recorded. Outbreaks are likely triggered by favorable weather conditions, nutritious host plants, and lower levels of predation, parasitism, and disease. Optimal weather includes above-average spring and summer temperatures, as well as enough rainfall to keep plants like fescue, bluegrass, and wheat lush. Population crashes can occur due to fungal infections, drought leading to starvation, low temperatures hindering development, or freezing soil temperatures causing egg mortality. This species readily takes wheat-bran-poisoned bait.

Outbreaks

No other grasshopper species in Canada shows such dramatic population swings. The clear-winged grasshopper was highly abundant in parts of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and B.C. in 1984 but had nearly vanished by 1993–94, appearing in only a handful of specimens out of more than 15,000 collected. Yet during the same period, it caused outbreaks in northern areas. It is also the only species observed forming dense mating swarms visible from hundreds of meters away, with multiple males attempting to mate with a single female at once.

A widespread outbreak across much of the Canadian Prairies in 1962 was brought under control by the fungus Entomophaga grylli complex.

Outbreak media coverage

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Associated organizations

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Resources

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