It is a large-bodied, highly colorful neotropical grasshopper belonging to the family Romaleidae. This species displays significant sexual dimorphism, with adult females reaching lengths of 70 to 85 millimeters, whereas males are considerably smaller, ranging from 45 to 55 millimeters. The general body coloration is typically olive-green or grayish, decorated with striking bright yellow stripes and markings. Key diagnostic features include strongly banded antennae with alternating black and red or yellow rings, and intense reddish tarsi, which inspire its specific epithet. The pronotum features a prominent median carina, and the tegmina are characterized by yellow venation over a dark background, while the hind wings exhibit a distinctive pinkish or purplish coloration at the base, which is only exposed during flight.

Geographical distribution: This insect is widely distributed across the southern cone of South America. Its documented range encompasses northern and central Argentina (with dense populations in the Chaco, Pampas, and Espinal regions), southern and central-western Brazil (particularly in Rio Grande do Sul), as well as throughout Uruguay, central-southern Paraguay, and southeastern Bolivia.

Habitat: It primarily colonizes xerophytic forests, shrubby savannas, open woodlands, and ecotones. It is closely associated with the Chaco dry forest, where it inhabits the shrub and lower canopy layers, but it also shows high ecological plasticity, adjusting well to human-altered landscapes such as agricultural edges, degraded pastures, suburban gardens, and roadside vegetation dominated by woody plants.

Feeding: It is a strictly phytophagous and highly polyphagous species. It consumes a wide variety of vascular plants, showing a marked preference for the foliage and tender shoots of woody species within the families Anacardiaceae (especially the genus Schinopsis) and Fabaceae (such as Acacia and Prosopis). During population outbreaks, its diet expands to include economically important crops such as soybeans, sunflowers, and various garden vegetables, occasionally acting as an agricultural pest.

Behavior: This insect is strictly diurnal, depending heavily on solar radiation to thermoregulate through basking behaviors. Although generally solitary, under favorable climatic conditions, it can undergo dramatic population increases and display moderate gregarious tendencies. Its bright and contrasting coloration is believed to be aposematic, warning potential predators of toxic or unpalatable chemical compounds sequestered from its host plants.

Reproduction: The life cycle is hemimetabolous and univoltine. Mating takes place during late summer and early autumn. Following copulation, the female deposits her eggs in the ground, burying her abdomen in loose, sandy, or clay soils to lay a protective egg pod (ootheca) containing 50 to 100 eggs bound together by a frothy secretion that solidifies. These eggs undergo winter diapause to survive low temperatures, resuming development and hatching into first-instar nymphs during the southern hemisphere´s spring.

Conservation status: It has not been formally evaluated by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List. However, it is considered a very common and abundant species with stable populations throughout its geographic range, sometimes even benefiting from deforestation and habitat fragmentation which create favorable secondary scrub environments.