Walking along the trails towards the wooden deck lookout, you might spot a rather striking insect: the Central American lubber grasshopper (Romalea varipennis), or Saltamonte Perezoso Centroamericano in Spanish.
If you see the black kind with red legs, you have found it in its young nymph stage.
They later change into their adult colors of bright yellow with bold black markings, like putting on a gala suit. This one was spotted mid-transformation.
These grasshoppers are slow movers compared to their speedy cousins, which is why in Spanish they are called perezosos. They prefer to bask in the morning sun and take their time exploring plants. Herbivores with a broad palate, they feed on leaves, flowers, and even young shoots from a variety of plants. While they can be found year-round in the tropics, the black nymphs usually appear from late dry season into early rainy season, which is why you can spot them on the trails right now.
A fun fact about these insects is that the adults can reach 7 to 10 centimeters in length, making them one of the largest grasshoppers in the region. From hatching to full adulthood takes about 3 to 5 months, with the black stage lasting 1 to 2 months. Their total lifespan is close to a year, which is longer than most grasshoppers. The adult stage still lasts just long enough to mate and lay eggs for the next generation, but their slow growth makes them a bit of an exception in the grasshopper world.
So if you see one on your walk, whether in its nymph or adult stage, you are catching a glimpse of a brief chapter in its slow-paced but colorful life story.