Rufous grasshopper
Male Rufous Grasshoppers court a female by slowly waving their pale-tipped, clubbed antennae in front of her face before starting their song.
| Where | Dry chalk grassland and scrub |
|---|---|
| Size | 14 to 22 mm body length |
| When | July to October |
The Rufous Grasshopper is a stocky brown grasshopper with distinctive clubbed antennae tipped in white or pale cream, and mature males show an orange-red tip to the abdomen.
It favours dry, chalky grassland with scattered scrub on sheltered, sunny slopes and forest edges. Males court females with a slow, deliberate song and an antennae-waving display before mating in late summer and autumn.
Traits
Habitat
Grassland
Colour
Brown, Orange
Active
Day
To people
Harmless to people; adults feed only on grasses and other low plants.
Activity through the year
Often confused with
Its antennae are thread-like all the way to the tip and its underside is noticeably hairy, unlike the clubbed, pale-tipped antennae and sparsely hairy underside of the Rufous Grasshopper.
Questions
Is the Rufous grasshopper dangerous to people?
Harmless to people; adults feed only on grasses and other low plants.
When can you see the Rufous grasshopper?
The Rufous grasshopper can be seen from July to October, by day.
Plate retouched from a photo by Patrick Le Mao, CC0, iNaturalist Licence
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Crickets and grasshoppers›Grasshoppers›Gomphocerippus
Last updated 2026-09-26. Every entry is checked against published sources.