Adult Eastern Lubber

Romalea guttata is native to the southeast and south central part of the U.S., though the only known remaining populations are in Florida and South Carolina. They're very distinctive, well known for their size and coloration.

The lubber has small wings, more than half the length of their abdomen, lending little help to their mobility. They're flightless, and can only jump short distances. They mostly move around slowly and clumsily, walking and crawling feebly over the ground.

There's a notable difference between the nymph and adult lubber, with the nymph being almost entirely black with a few distinctive stripes, with the adults being a lighter color of dull yellow with black spots and markings.

The females lay their eggs during the summer months, digging a hole about two inches deep with the tip of her abdomen, and laying up to 50 eggs. The eggs stay in the ground through fall and winter, and begin hatching in March. The nymphs go through five stages of molting, called instars, before reaching the adult stage. The length of each instar averages 15 to 20 days each. The adults exist throughout the year in Florida, and can be seen in their highest numbers throughout during July and August.

The lubber's size is misleading concerning damage to gardens, as they require far less food than most of the more injurious grasshoppers that are only a third of their size.

They show up here in my yard in great numbers every year, though last year didn't see quite as many as usual. I'll be keeping an eye out for this this year, to hopefully get some good macro shots.