Coffee Farm Fauna, Lago de Coatepeque, El Salvador

A fearless and rather photogenic arthropod, eager to pose.

This little critter loves coffee just as much as I do: the giant red-winged grasshopper (Tropidacris cristata ).

A common pest on coffee farms in the Americas, the stripes of black and yellow of this juvenile will disappear after several molts and will look like a more traditional grasshopper; albeit a giant one.

They can approach 20 centimeters in length, and averaging around 12 to 15 cm they are considered to be one of the largest grasshopper species known.

When young, they are usually found in large groups (safety in numbers); however, I couldn’t find any companions. Eager to find and photograph an adult.

Pictures taken on a coffee farm, Lago de Coatepeque, El Salvador.