{"id":2190786,"date":"2026-04-26T18:00:58","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T16:00:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/?p=2190786"},"modified":"2026-04-24T20:25:51","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T19:25:51","slug":"researchers-find-remarkable-hot-pink-insect-in-panama-rainforest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusingonwildlife.com\/news\/researchers-find-remarkable-hot-pink-insect-in-panama-rainforest\/","title":{"rendered":"Researchers find \u2018remarkable\u2019 hot-pink insect in Panama rainforest"},"content":{"rendered":"

In March 2025, biologist Benito Wainwright and his colleagues were searching for katydids \u2014 leaf-mimicking insects related to crickets and grasshoppers \u2014 in the rainforest of Barro Colorado Island in Panama, when they came across an unexpected sight: a hot-pink katydid individual of the species\u00a0Arota festae<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The researchers captured the katydid and raised her in captivity. Photographing her daily for 14 days, they chronicled her changing color from hot pink to a pastel pink and finally green, the researchers report in a\u00a0recent study.<\/p>\n

A. festae<\/em>, found in Panama, Colombia and Suriname, are typically light green in color, resembling early-growth vegetation, the authors write. The discovery of the hot-pink katydid is very rare, Wainwright told Mongabay by email.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve spent a total of 8 months in the tropics and have only ever found one, and my collaborators who have spent 2+ years on BCI [Barro Colorado Island] have never seen one,\u201d said Wainwright, from the University of St Andrews in Scotland. \u201cWe do most of our sampling around research station lights so it could be that these immature pink adults are hiding in places we\u2019re not looking. The green morphs are pretty common though so, at least on BCI, the pink morph is a real abnormality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jeffrey Cole, an expert in katydid evolution, who wasn\u2019t affiliated with the study, told Mongabay in an email: \u201cThe observation of this katydid changing colors within a single life stage is remarkable, as it is the first demonstration of this capability in a katydid.\u201d<\/p>\n

The authors note that pink coloration in katydids has historically been considered disadvantageous for camouflage because it makes the individuals conspicuous to predators. However, they hypothesize that pink in the case of\u00a0A. festae\u00a0<\/em>might actually be an advantage.<\/p>\n

Many rainforest plant species have delayed greening, in which their leaves are pink or red when young, before turning green. On Barro Colorado, one-third of the plant species exhibit delayed greening, the authors write. For many of these species, the change from pink to green leaves happens over two weeks, the same duration it took the katydid to transform from hot pink to green. The researchers propose that the hot-pink\u00a0A. festae\u00a0<\/em>individuals may be mimicking delayed greening in surrounding plants.<\/p>\n

However, Cole said this hypothesis \u201cis tenuous,\u201d especially with a sample size of just one individual. \u201cWe need to know if young adults routinely start out pink and change to green, or if this is rare or a fluke,\u201d he said. \u201cIs this strategy employed more during seasons when new growth is abundant, pink, and transitioning to green? Does\u00a0color change in the katydids and the plants proceed at similar paces?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\"Pink-to-green
Pink-to-green color change in an Arota festae individual. Image courtesy of Benito Wainwright and Phyllis Coley, Wainwright et al., 2026 (CC BY 4.0).<\/figcaption><\/figure>
<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This article<\/a> by David Brown was first published by Mongabay on 13 April 2026. Lead Image: Hot pink individual of Arota festae. Image courtesy of Benito Wainwright.<\/i><\/p>\n

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