Hot-Pink Katydid Changes Color in Panama Rainforest

A brilliant hot-pink insect spotted in Panama's rainforest has scientists rethinking how creatures hide in plain sight.

Biologist Benito Wainwright was searching for katydids on Barro Colorado Island in March 2025 when he stumbled upon something extraordinary. Instead of the usual green leaf-mimicking insect, he found one glowing hot pink among the foliage.

Wainwright and his team brought the rare katydid back to their lab and photographed her every day for two weeks. They watched in amazement as she gradually shifted from vibrant hot pink to soft pastel pink, then finally to green, just like the insects normally found in Panama, Colombia, and Suriname.

The discovery is incredibly rare. Wainwright has spent eight months in tropical rainforests and has only ever found one pink katydid, while his colleagues who've worked two years on the island have never seen one.

Jeffrey Cole, a katydid evolution expert not involved in the study, called the observation remarkable. No one has ever documented a katydid changing colors within a single life stage before.

Scientists typically assume bright pink coloration would make insects easy targets for predators. But Wainwright's team believes this katydid might actually be using pink as clever camouflage.

Here's why: one-third of plant species on Barro Colorado Island have pink or red leaves when young, a phenomenon called delayed greening. These colorful young leaves gradually turn green over about two weeks, matching exactly how long the katydid's transformation took.

The Bright Side

The researchers propose that hot-pink katydids may be mimicking the changing colors of young plant leaves around them. It's a strategy that would let them blend perfectly into their environment during their vulnerable early adult stage.

Cole notes that more research is needed to confirm this hypothesis. Scientists want to know if all young adult katydids start pink or if this individual was a fluke, and whether the color-changing strategy appears more often during seasons when new pink plant growth is abundant.

The discovery opens exciting questions about how insects adapt to their ever-changing rainforest homes, reminding us that nature still holds countless surprises.