Rainbow Grasshopper

Dactylotum bicolor grows to an average length of about 20 mm (0.8 in) for males and 35 mm (1.4 in) for females. It is mainly black with distinctive reddish and yellowish markings, a pale green prothorax and pale green wingpads. The tibia of the hind leg bears six to eight spines. This species does not develop wings and is unable to fly. Three subspecies are recognised:

D. b. bicolor – Northern Texas, New Mexico and Mexico D. b. pictum – Northern and eastern part of range D. b. variegatum – Southern Arizona and western part of range The coloring varies across the insect's range, with D. b. pictum being black with little red, D. b. variegatum having distinct red markings, and D. b. bicolor having a purplish or violet sheen to the background black color. Before the discovery of Dichroplus silveiraguidoi in Uruguay in 1956, Dactylotum bicolor had the lowest known number of chromosomes among grasshopper species, with seventeen acrocentric chromosomes.

It is found in shortgrass prairie, desert grasslands, thinly vegetated areas and alfalfa fields throughout the western Great Plains of the United States (and southern Canada), southward to Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and into northern Mexico.