Orthoptera of Iowa

Orthoptera are Katydids, Crickets, Grasshoppers, and related species, which often do not have the information resources that are available for groups like Dragonflies or Butterflies. This Guide includes an up-to-date checklist of Iowa species and resources for identification. The list is organized from the most commonly reported species (Differential Grasshopper) to least commonly reported (i.e., never) in iNaturalist. Iowa Naturalists can make a significant contribution to our knowledge of our Orthopteran wildlife, because many species are not surveyed or studied often.

Sources for this Guide include iNaturalist public and private observations, BugGuide, the Insects of Iowa website, the Singing Insects of North America (SINA) website, Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), Symbiota Collections of Arthropods Network (SCAN), and academic literature. I have included any species that are known or thought to occur anywhere in Iowa.

The most interesting literature is two papers from the 1930s and Froeschner's paper from 1954:

Froeschner, R.C., 1954. The grasshoppers and other Orthoptera of Iowa. Iowa State College Journal of Science 29:163-354. https://dr.lib.iastate.edu/handle/20.500.12876/49794
Knutson, H. and Jaques, H.E., 1935. A revised list of the Orthoptera of Iowa. In Proceedings of the Iowa Academy of Science (Vol. 42, No. 1, pp. 179-184).
Knutson, H., 1937. Notes on the Acrididae (Orthoptera) of Iowa. Field and Laboratory, 5(2), p.2.

These papers document many species from Iowa that have not been recorded since. PDFs can be found through Google Scholar. or at the provided links. Froeschner (1954) is the most complete list, but is not very beginner friendly.

This Guide currently includes 190 species. Of those, 107 species have no public records in iNaturalist, so there is significant room to document more species in Iowa. Some of these species are rather obscure crickets that are difficult to ID, but there are also others such as the Western Round-winged Katydid which has many historical records in Iowa (https://orthsoc.org/sina/013a.htm), but no records in iNat.

Click through each species picture for information on identification. From each species page you can also click through to BugGuide or the iNat taxon page for more information.

Some General Identification Tips for some Orthops groups:

There are 5 Conehead species in Iowa. A picture of the cone or "forehead" will allow identification to species. As an example see this observation: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/94787928

There are 5 Scudderia (Bush Katydid) species in Iowa. A picture of the "terminalia" (reproductive parts at the hind end) is usually needed to ID the species. See this page: https://bugguide.net/node/view/7130

There are 8 species of Tree Cricket in Iowa (1 Neoxabea and 7 Oecanthus). Identification of most of these requires a photo of the front of the antenna bases, like the second picture in this observation: https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/94281439

There are 11 camel crickets in the genus Ceuthophilus in Iowa. Most have no records in Iowa since 1954. Naturalists can make a significant contribution by taking identifiable pictures of these species. Pictures of the hind end/terminalia of males are needed. Take pictures from above, from the side, and from behind, and perhaps from below, so that the anatomy can clearly be seen. See entry for Ceuthophilus maculatus for a helpful diagram of parts of the terminalia.

Photography of captured insects can be easier if you put them in the fridge for awhile. It doesn't kill them (or rarely does...usually when they are large insects).

Acknowledgments: Thanks to Brandon Woo (https://www.inaturalist.org/people/brandonwoo) for a "peer review" of this guide and many helpful tips on identification. Thanks to Jim Durbin, Dr. Greg Courtney, and the Iowa DNR diversity program sharing their knowledge (or confirming the knowledge gaps) on Iowa Orthoptera. less ↑