This grasshopper looks like it just got back from 80s night at Bubba’s Sulky Lounge and crashed hard before slipping out of its hot pink Spandex body suit. Heck, maybe that is the story.
More likely, this grasshopper has never hopped off Calderwood Island once in its life (its life being about one year, including egg and nymph stages). As an adult, it’ll live a few months until the weather turns cold or its food gets scarce. That is unless it gets eaten first.
This grasshopper’s unique coloring is due to erythrism (or erythrochroism). Erythrism is a rare genetic mutation that causes an overproduction of red pigment in an animal’s hair, skin, feathers, or eggshells. In grasshoppers, the mutation results in a vibrant pink or red rather than their typical green/brown.
Erythrism makes them eye-catchingly uncommon. And, unfortunately, a hot pink target for predators, as that bright hue makes them stick out amid the green grasses and shrubbery they generally hang out in.
Check out some really stunning photos of erythrismic grasshoppers: www.roeselienraimond.com/phenomenon-erythrism/
