Field Guide to Grasshoppers, Katydids, and Crickets of the United States

A grayish or reddish-brown species, often covered with minute dark spots that blend together on the forewings to form diffuse, broad, transverse bands. Hind wings bear a curved black transverse band centrally, are pale yellow basally, and transparent or smoky at the tip. Dorsal ridge of the pronotum is slightly elevated. Outer face of the hind femora is weakly or indistinctly banded, but the inner face bears alternating black and pale yellow bands. Hind tibiae are are yellowish basally and reddish orange distally, with a narrow black band separating the yellow and orange. Males are 30-37 mm long, females 35-45 mm.

The narrowness of the black band on the hind tibiae is useful in separating this species from the similar crepitating grasshopper, Spharagemon crepitans, which has a broader black tibial band.