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

This small- to medium-sized grasshopper has few distinguishing characteristics. The face is not strongly slanted, the head rather broadly rounded. The color is variable: brown or green is common but a combination of brown and green is also frequent. A series of elongate spots occurs near the center of the forewings, which normally extend to the tip of the abdomen or beyond. Large black triangular marks are often found dorsally along the posterior margin of the pronotum. Lateral ridges on the dorsal surface of the pronotum are markedly compressed near the mid-point of the pronotum. A broad dark stripe usually extends from the back of the eye and across the lateral lobes of the pronotum. Males are 14-21 mm long, females 18-27 mm.

The pasture grasshopper is easily confused with the spotted-wing grasshopper, Orphuella pelidna. In the pasture grasshopper there is but one cut in each lateral ridge on the upper surface of the pronotum, whereas in the spotted-wing grasshopper there are two cuts.