Rare pink grasshopper discovered in Carinthia – gene mutation explains coloration

What is erythrism?

For the animals themselves, color mutations often mean a disadvantage, for instance when the coloration impairs camouflage. A brightly pink-colored grasshopper, for example, stands out much more clearly to predators on a green leaf than its conspecifics with a green or brownish coloration. The press release further states that pink grasshoppers therefore have only slim chances of survival.

The experts at Naturschutzbund Österreich explain the situation: „Da sich in freier Wildbahn nur äußerst selten zwei Träger dieser Mutation miteinander fortpflanzen, sind rosa Grashüpfer eine absolute Ausnahme". The observation from Villach joins a series of further reports from Austria.

Why the coloration is a disadvantage

A reader of the „5 Minuten" editorial team reports that she and her husband discovered a pink grasshopper in 2025 in their own garden in the Linz-Land district of Upper Austria. „Ich bin ich froh, dass ich ein Beweisfoto gemacht habe, sonst hätte mir das keiner geglaubt", the reader says, laughing. „Mein Mann und ich haben 2025 so einen pinken Grashüpfer in unserem Garten entdeckt. Nach kurzem Googlen fanden wir damals heraus, dass es sich um eine Genmutation handelt. Wir hatten echt Glück, so etwas Außergewöhnliches zu sehen."

Further sightings in Austria

Shortly afterwards, another woman from Carinthia contacted „5 Minuten". She had already photographed a pink specimen in 2019 on a meadow in the Klagenfurt-Land district. The unusual sightings therefore show no sign of stopping: after two pink grasshoppers in Carinthia caused a stir, the reader from Upper Austria has now come forward.

The resident from St. Georgen published her photo on the citizen science platform naturbeobachtungen.at, which is operated by Naturschutzbund Österreich. The Villach sighting thus joins a series of documented observations from several federal states that record the rare phenomenon for research purposes.

Experts emphasize that the animals' low probability of survival is mainly due to their conspicuous coloration. The combination of a rare genotype and a lack of camouflage makes the pink grasshoppers a particularly rare phenomenon in the domestic insect world.