The red-legged grasshopper is variable in colour and can include shades of red-brown, yellow, dark brown, green and olive green. The hind legs are bright red or yellowish and have a black herringbone pattern. This and other short-horned grasshoppers are part of a larger group called spur-throated grasshoppers: there is a little pointy "spur" between the bases of the forelegs.

When startled, these grasshoppers can fly for distances of 40 feet. Their flight is fast and even; they fly about a yard above the vegetation.