South American Locust Schistocerca cancellata

These locusts are simultaneous shape-shifters and color-changers, with personality changes to match. When solitary, they're green and keep to themselves. But trigger swarming conditions and something extraordinary happens—they transform into bright yellow with bold black patterns while completely changing their behavior and body morphology. For decades, scientists thought they were two entirely different species!

The major swarming species in subtropical South America, these extraordinary locusts originate in desert regions of northwestern Argentina, southeastern Bolivia, and western Paraguay. When rains permit successful breeding, populations explode and congregate into massive swarms that march relentlessly into farmland, devastating crops across vast territories. This phase polymorphism remains one of entomology's most dramatic transformations.