Back From the Brink: The Grasshopper That Refused to Die

Between 1979 and 1982, I had the extraordinary opportunity to explore the Cape Verde Islands with three fellow colleagues. Every year for two months, we set out across the archipelago, determined to study the local grasshopper species and their fragile ecosystems. Our mission was simple, but far from easy: to understand the acridid fauna of these remote volcanic islands, one of the driest and most unpredictable environments in the tropics.

We left no stone unturned—literally. We flew over the islands in small planes, drove along every passable track, and spent long, hot days hiking through valleys, hillsides, and coastal plains. Cape Verde’s grasshopper fauna is relatively poor—just 37 known species—many of them hanging on by a thread in this arid landscape, where rain is rare and irregular. In some years, when no rain falls at all, entire populations can vanish. When that happens, recolonization sometimes comes from the African mainland, carried across the Atlantic by strong winds or on the wings of chance.

Despite these harsh conditions, our persistence paid off. We discovered two new species endemic to the archipelago—species found nowhere else on Earth. One of them was Sphingonotus atlanticus (originally described as Wernerella atlantica) on the uninhabited island of Santa Luzia. The other was a particularly curious find: a flightless, short-winged grasshopper unlike anything we had seen before.

We found it on São Nicolau, about 800 meters above sea level, perched on a low stone wall beside a mountain road. It was a single male, and it belonged to a species never before described: Eyprepocprifas insularis, named by our colleague Michel Donskoff, from Paris Museum, in 1983. Its stunted wings and isolated location made it a mystery from the very beginning. Could it survive in such a harsh, unstable environment? Was it part of a hidden population or a lone remnant of a species on the brink?

The species was never seen again. Not one specimen. No males, no females. Nothing.

After more than a decade without a trace, and with no known population to protect, I made the difficult decision in 1996 to officially declare Eyprepocprifas insularis extinct.

And yet—nature has its surprises.

Eyprepocprifas insularis: photo M. Lecoq 1983.

In the cool dusk of a January evening in 2023, on a narrow trail winding through the slopes of Monte Gordo on the island of São Nicolau, something extraordinary happened. Two biologists, Rob Felix and Annelies Jacobs, were out for a hike. It was meant to be a relaxed walk, a detour from their original goal of watching a rare seabird colony. But as is often the case with field researchers, their eyes were trained to notice the unexpected.

Then, it happened.

“I saw a grasshopper just sitting there on the path,” Rob recalled later. “It didn’t jump away. I leaned in, lit it with my torch—and I froze. I couldn’t believe it. I knew that shape. I shouted, ‘It’s Eyprepocprifas!’ To my surprise, I even got the pronunciation right—not the easiest genus name to say out loud, especially in a moment like that.”

Eyprepocprifas insularis: photo Rob Felix 2025.

What Rob had stumbled upon wasn’t just any insect. It was a ghost—Eyprepocprifas insularis, the so-called Monte Gordo Grasshopper. A species known from a single male specimen collected in 1982 and never seen again. For decades, it had been presumed extinct. In fact, it had been officially declared so in 1996, after years of fruitless searching. But now, more than 40 years later, it had returned from oblivion.

It wasn’t a fluke. In the days that followed, Rob and Annelies scoured the forests and ravines of the Monte Gordo Natural Park. To their astonishment, they found more specimens—some hiding in shrubs, others clinging to stones, perfectly camouflaged. It wasn’t just a lost individual they had found. It was a population. A tiny, tenacious, wingless species that had managed to cling to life in one of the most remote corners of the Cape Verde archipelago.

“It was surreal,” Annelies said. “We kept looking at each other, almost afraid to believe it. We were on vacation. This wasn’t supposed to happen.”

But it did.

Their discovery didn’t stay a secret for long. Once home, the two biologists contacted specialists and shared photographs and field notes. The rediscovery was confirmed, and the remarkable news was later published in the Journal of Orthoptera Research. For the scientific community, it was a moment of wonder—and for conservation biology, a powerful reminder: extinction, especially on islands, is sometimes less permanent than we assume.

No one knows how many Monte Gordo Grasshoppers are left, or how they managed to survive unseen for so long. But one thing is clear: they’re no longer just a name in an old field notebook. They’re alive, and they’ve been given a second chance.

References:

Donskoff M., 1983. Un acridien nouveau des lles du Cap Vert: Eyprepocprifas insularis, n.gen. et n.sp. Bulletin de la Société entomologique de France 87(9-10) : 345-349.

Lecoq M., 1996. Primeira lista vermelha para os Acrídeos (Insecta : Saltatoria). In : T. Leyens,  W. Lobin (Eds) Primeira lista vermelha de Cabo Verde. Courier Forschunginstitut Senckenberg (Frankfurt am Main) 191 : 87-88.

Felix R., Jacobs A., Lecoq M. 2025. Rediscovery of the Monte Gordo Grasshopper Eyprepocprifas insularis: An ancient brachypterous species endemic to São Nicolau, Cape Verde (Orthoptera, Eyprepocnemidinae). Journal of Orthoptera Research 34(2): 159–168.

Joshua Shavit, 2025. Rare grasshopper species rediscovered after being lost for over 40 years. The Brighter Side of News, Los Angeles, California, USA.