Bugland: Colors Of The Rainbow

Small and elegant, Rainbow Grasshoppers, Dactylotum bicolor, are native to the United States, Canada and northern Mexico. Their vibrant colors include a mix of yellow, red, green, blue and black depending on where they live. Their colors also serve as a warning to birds and lizards and other predators that they are not worth attacking or eating. (This is called aposematism and suggests they may be toxic or taste bad.) This Rainbow Grasshopper was photographed in Park Hill by Mark Silverstein.