May 26, 2026

I am an Atlantic Grasshopper

I like to stay in a semi aquatic place

My antennae are usually shorter than my hind femora

And I have a weirdly skeleton like face. 

Location: St. Sebastian River Preserve State Park

Sources: https://www.bugguide.net/node/view/5004

Photo and text © 2026 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

If you are reading and enjoying this blog, please consider supporting me on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/deeat8am, or purchase my current book, The Rhyming Guide to Florida Spiders (details at https://deeateightam.blogspot.com/p/rhyming-guide-to-florida-spiders-now.html). Thank you for being a reader and friend of Dee at 8 A.M.

October 2, 2025

I am a Differential Grasshopper

I survive winter by entering diapause as an egg

Unfortunately, I might not live much longer

Something tore off my back leg.

Under normal conditions my back legs

Have a beautiful herringbone design

They are yellow and brown

And I'd jump all around

Alas close to the ground I'm now confined.

Location: John C. Campbell Folk School, NC

Sources: https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Melanoplus_differentialis/

Photo and text © 2025 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

If you are reading and enjoying this blog, please consider supporting me on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/deeat8am, or purchase my current book, The Rhyming Guide to Florida Spiders (details at https://deeateightam.blogspot.com/p/rhyming-guide-to-florida-spiders-now.html). Thank you for being a reader and friend of Dee at 8 A.M.

May 20, 2025

We are baby Eastern Lubber Grasshoppers -

Look close, there are dozens of us

We can and defoliate many plants and crops

And to some birds and mammals, we are poisonous.

Note: To those who have attended my spider talk, remember the difference between poison and venom. These grasshoppers are harmless to humans and even beneficial - they can defoliate terrible vegetable such as Kale. But to some smaller critters such as birds and small mammals, Lubbers can be poisonous if eaten.

Location: Longleaf Pine Preserve, New Smyrna Beach

Sources: https://gardeningsolutions.ifas.ufl.edu/care/pests-and-diseases/pests/eastern-lubber-grasshoppers

Photo and text © 2025 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

If you are reading and enjoying this blog, please consider supporting me on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/deeat8am, or purchase my current book, The Rhyming Guide to Florida Spiders (details at https://deeateightam.blogspot.com/p/rhyming-guide-to-florida-spiders-now.html). Thank you for being a reader and friend of Dee at 8 A.M.

May 15, 2025

I am a Cattail Toothpick Grasshopper

My pronotum is about the same length as my head

The pronotum is the collar-thing about where your neck would be

If you weren't human, but a grasshopper instead.

Location: Longleaf Pine Preserve, New Smyrna Beach

Sources: https://auth1.dpr.ncparks.gov/orth/view.php?checklist_number=20.0

Photo and text © 2025 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

If you are reading and enjoying this blog, please consider supporting me on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/deeat8am, or purchase my current book, The Rhyming Guide to Florida Spiders (details at https://deeateightam.blogspot.com/p/rhyming-guide-to-florida-spiders-now.html). Thank you for being a reader and friend of Dee at 8 A.M.

June 9, 2024

I am a Southern Marbled Grasshopper

I'm sand colored with marbled brown

I have a pronatal crest

That protects my neck

And I'm well camouflaged when on the ground.

Location: Apalachicola National Forest

Sources: https://theincorrigibleentomologist.wordpress.com/2019/02/12/spharagemon-of-florida/

https://www.uwyo.edu/entomology/grasshoppers/field-guide/ghparts.html

Photo and text © 2024 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

If you are reading and enjoying this blog, please consider supporting me on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/deeat8am, or purchase my current book, The Rhyming Guide to Florida Spiders (details at https://deeateightam.blogspot.com/p/rhyming-guide-to-florida-spiders-now.html). Thank you for being a reader and friend of Dee at 8 A.M.

June 8, 2024

I am an American Bird Grasshopper

In Florida I am a citrus crop pest

I don't have a lot of predators

But Cattle Egrets think I taste the best. 

Location: Apalachicola National Forest

Sources: https://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/field/american_grasshopper.htm

Photo and text © 2024 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

If you are reading and enjoying this blog, please consider supporting me on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/deeat8am, or purchase my current book, The Rhyming Guide to Florida Spiders (details at https://deeateightam.blogspot.com/p/rhyming-guide-to-florida-spiders-now.html). Thank you for being a reader and friend of Dee at 8 A.M.

May 11, 2024

I am known as an Easter Lubber grasshopper

I'm large and clumsy and slow

I damage citrus and vegetable crops

I'm pretty - that's as far as my good qualities go.

Location: Kissimmee Prairie Preserve State Park

Sources: https://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/orn/lubber.htm

Photo and text © 2024 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

If you are reading and enjoying this blog, please consider supporting me on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/deeat8am, or purchase my current book, The Rhyming Guide to Florida Spiders (details at https://deeateightam.blogspot.com/p/rhyming-guide-to-florida-spiders-now.html). Thank you for being a reader and friend of Dee at 8 A.M.

March 30, 2024

I am a Long-headed Toothpick Grasshopper

My name suits me to a tee

I readily pass

For a piece of dead grass,

A toothpick, or just some debris.

Location: UF DeLuca Preserve 2024 Bioblitz

Sources: https://entnemdept.ufl.edu/ghopper/strid.pdf

Photo and text © 2024 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

If you are reading and enjoying this blog, please consider supporting me on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/deeat8am, or purchase my current book, The Rhyming Guide to Florida Spiders (details at https://deeateightam.blogspot.com/p/rhyming-guide-to-florida-spiders-now.html). Thank you for being a reader and friend of Dee at 8 A.M.

March 29, 2024

I am a Southern Green-striped Grasshopper

Although I'm neither green nor striped

Some of my species are green

But I personally don't live up to that hype.

Location: UF DeLuca Preserve 2024 Bioblitz

Sources: https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/IN010

Photo and text © 2024 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

If you are reading and enjoying this blog, please consider supporting me on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/deeat8am, or purchase my current book, The Rhyming Guide to Florida Spiders (details at https://deeateightam.blogspot.com/p/rhyming-guide-to-florida-spiders-now.html). Thank you for being a reader and friend of Dee at 8 A.M.

November 30, 2023

We are Southern Green-striped Grasshoppers

We come in green or brown form

You can find us where

The soil is bare

Girl is larger than boy - that's the nor

Location: TM Goodwin WMA, Broadmoor Unit

Sources: https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/IN010

https://bugeric.blogspot.com/2013/03/orthoptera-thursday-northern-green.html

Photo and text © 2023 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

October 9, 2023

I am a Seaside Grasshopper

I like to hang out in the sand

When I'm disturbed (such as by an old bat with a camera)

I'll lie still and you'll hardly see where I am.

Location: Goodwin Waterfowl Management Area, Fellsmere

Sources: https://entnemdept.ufl.edu/ghopper/band.pdf

Photo and text © 2023 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

July 12, 2023

I am a Schistocerca serialis ssp. cubense

I'm just a grasshopper nymph right now

I'll grow wings when I become an adult

Hemimetabolous metamorphosis is how.

Location: Oyster Bar Marsh Conservation Area, Vero Beach

Sources: https://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-holometabolous-and-vs-hemimetabolous-metamorphosis-in-insects/

https://bugguide.net/node/view/2032037

Photo and text © 2023 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

February 14, 2023

I am a Southern Yellow-winged Grasshopper

You can find me in Florida and across the southeast

I have a thick body, and enlarged rear legs

And grasses are what I love to eat. 

Location: Bluefield Ranch Preserve, St. Lucie County

Sources: https://entnemdept.ufl.edu/ghopper/band.pdf

Photo and text © 2022 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

December 7, 2022

I am a Southern Green-striped Grasshopper, 

In Florida I can be found year round

I like to hang out in pastures and road sides

And in flight I make a crackling sound.

Location: Orlando Wetlands Park, Christmas, FL

Sources: https://bugguide.net/node/view/666535

Photo and text © 2022 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

November 5, 2022

I'm a type of Spur-throated Grasshopper

I'm mostly green with yellowish dabs.

I got my name, for the spur 'tween my legs,

And checkout my 6-pack abs!

Location: Orlando Wetlands Park, Christmas, FL

Sources: https://entnemdept.ufl.edu/ghopper/spur1.pdf

Photo and text © 2022 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

October 26, 2022

I am an Eastern Lubber Grasshopper

I can't fly and I don't hop too well either 

But I can damage crops

And secrete foul froth

I've never claimed to be a real people-pleaser.

Location: Orlando Wetlands Park, Christmas, FL

Sources: https://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/orn/lubber.htm

Photo and text © 2022 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

September 27. 2022

I am a Southern Yellow-winged Grasshopper

I've bright yellow hind wings, but you can't see them here

I look like a rock, and you might be in shock

When I jump and bright yellow appears!

Location: St. Sebastian River Preserve State Park, Fellsmere

Sources: https://entnemdept.ufl.edu/ghopper/band.pdf

Photo and text © 2022 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

September 26, 2022

I am a Longhorn Band-wing Grasshopper

I like sandy places like river banks and dunes

In the south my wings are orange to red

My friends in New Englands wings have a yelllowish hue.

Location: St. Sebastian River Preserve State Park, Fellsmere

Sources: https://bugguide.net/node/view/9542

Photo and text © 2022 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

August 31, 2022

I am an Eastern Lubber Grasshopper 

I'm only in my second instar

I don't have wings yet, but they are starting to form

But I'm still too young to go drinking in bars.

Location: St. Sebastian River Preserve State Park, Fellsmere

Sources: https://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/orn/lubber.htm

Photo and text © 2022 Dee Fairbanks Simpson

January 24, 2022

I am an American Bird Grasshopper

When I want to have babies, I dig -

I lay about 70 eggs in the soil, they hatch

Then go through five or six instars before they get big.

Location: Fort Pierce Inlet State Park

Sources: https://entnemdept.ufl.edu/creatures/field/american_grasshopper.htm

https://www.amentsoc.org/insects/glossary/terms/instar/

Photo and text © 2022 Dee Fairbanks Simpson