Field Guide to Grasshoppers, Katydids, and Crickets of the United States
A moderately large, heavy-bodied grasshopper. Like the graceful range grasshopper, Boopedon gracile, its head is large and round. Hind tibiae are red, black, cream, or a combination of these colors. The male, as suggested by the common name, is entirely black, and so this species is sometimes called the black males grasshopper. The female is brown or yellow brown but marked with cream or ivory and black. Occasionally it, too is entirely black. In males, the wings do not reach the end of the abdomen, and are about the length of the head and pronotum combined. the wings of females are even shorter than those of males. Males are 24-34 mm long, females 33-52 mm.