In color polymorphic insects, individuals may track available habitats and select those that better match their color phenotype. This so-called habitat choice mechanism can balance the chances of survival between morphs, equalizing fitness, which can contribute to the long-term maintenance of color polymorphism in a population. We used a population of the brown-green polymorphic admirable grasshopper (Syrbula admirabilis) to test whether color morphs differ in their preferences when exposed individually to two contrasting background colors (brown vs. green) in an experimental arena. We obtained data on how the locations (background choices) and frass (number of pellets, as a proxy for the relative use of each color area) of each grasshopper were distributed between the brown and green sections to estimate their background color preferences. We did not detect differences in background color preferences between color morphs in either (molting or non-molting) nymphs or (unmanipulated or color-manipulated) imagoes, rejecting the occurrence of habitat-choice mechanisms. We attribute this lack of habitat selectivity to the widespread presence of a disruptive body pattern on the back of nymphs and imagoes that blurs individuals’ shape and may provide similar crypsis on any background environment. As an alternative hypothesis, we suggest that color polymorphism might be maintained because it impairs prey detection by predators that form search images when hunting, which would reduce overall predation rates in admirable grasshopper populations.

在颜色多态性昆虫中，个体可能会追踪可用的栖息地并选择与其颜色表型更匹配的栖息地。这种所谓的栖息地选择机制可以平衡变形之间的生存机会，均衡适应度，这有助于长期维持种群中的颜色多态性。我们使用了一群棕绿色多态令人钦佩的蚱蜢（Syrbula admirabilis) 以测试在实验舞台上单独暴露于两种对比背景颜色（棕色与绿色）时，颜色变形的偏好是否不同。我们获得了关于如何在棕色和绿色部分之间分布每只蚱蜢的位置（背景选择）和 frass（颗粒数量，作为每个颜色区域的相对使用的代表）的数据，以估计它们的背景颜色偏好。我们没有检测到（蜕皮或非蜕皮）若虫或（未经处理或颜色处理）图像中颜色变形之间背景颜色偏好的差异，拒绝栖息地选择机制的发生。我们将这种栖息地选择性的缺乏归因于若虫和成虫背部普遍存在破坏性的身体模式，这种模式会模糊个体的形状，并可能在任何背景环境中提供类似的隐匿。作为替代假设，我们建议可能保持颜色多态性，因为它会损害捕食者在狩猎时形成搜索图像的猎物检测，这将降低令人钦佩的蚱蜢种群的总体捕食率。