Bug FAQHorse Lubber Grasshopper
Romalea eques · Order: Orthoptera · Family: Romaleidae
Also called: Horse Lubber
Adult females are 4 to 7.1 cm long and weigh up to about 9 g, while males are 3.3 to 5.8 cm and weigh up to 3 g. They have a black body with yellow-black patterned forewings, green veins, red hindwings with black borders, and orange markings on the head and antennae. They live in arid brush and grasslands of the southwestern US, especially the Chihuahuan Desert region of Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, often among Acacia, Mimosa, Ephedra and Yucca shrubs.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
Females are 4 to 7.1 cm long and weigh up to about 9 g; males are 3.3 to 5.8 cm long and weigh up to about 3 g.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
It is an opportunistic carnivore and will sometimes scavenge insect and vertebrate carrion.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
It produces one brood per year (univoltine). Larval development is fast, with five nymphal molts reaching adulthood in about 40 days.
Source: Wikipedia
When you see it
Eggs are laid in subterranean pods in October.
Source: Wikipedia
Lookalikes
Dark adults and nymphs of the eastern lubber grasshopper (Romalea microptera) look similar and are often confused with this species. Their ranges do not normally overlap, but they could meet in southern Texas where R. microptera is eastern and T. eques is western.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it is found in the US
Recorded in 5 of 51 states and DC. Most records: Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Utah.
Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.
Source: GBIF
Status: native in North America; native in United States. Source: iNaturalist
Months it is reported in the US
Source: GBIF
More photos
Questions people ask
How can I tell this grasshopper apart from the eastern lubber grasshopper?
The eastern lubber grasshopper is also dark, but its range is eastern Texas while the horse lubber grasshopper is found in western Texas and the surrounding desert region.
Source: Wikipedia
When are adult horse lubber grasshoppers active?
Adults become mature in October and die by November as winter freezes.
Source: Wikipedia
Same family (Romaleidae)
Sources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taeniopoda_eques
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-23 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-23.