There, sitting on the grey stones in the bright sunshine was a deep pink female robust grasshopper (Sigaus robustus).
"I’ve been studying these amazing creatures for years. They are usually grey or brown coloured like river stones. I’d heard rumours about a pink one but never seen one myself. It was so exciting.
"Pink grasshoppers are exceptionally rare. It’s likely caused by a genetic mutation called erythrism which results in an over production of red pigment and less of the usual natural pigment that the species has."
The robust grasshopper is New Zealand’s largest lowland grasshopper and is only found along the edges of the braided rivers of the Mackenzie Basin — a very specialised habitat of stones and boulders.
The grasshopper comes in many shades of grey and rusty brown matching the stones and silty soils in its habitat. It is nationally endangered, and is at risk from predators like hedgehogs, cats and birds.
In 2018, with funding from Te Manahuna Aoraki, a predator exclusion fence was put up around a small area of grasshopper habitat in the basin.
It is thought to be the world’s first exclusion fence built specifically for the protection of insects and to learn more about them.
The pink one was spotted at a different site, outside the fence, and will have to fend for herself.
— Allied Media
