The Acrididae are frequently quoted as one of the classic examples of karyotypic stability. Within the family, the Cryptosacci, for instance, are characterised by a majority of species having 23 chromosome arms in the male. The members are then related by Robertsonian sequences in which the basic karyotype is believed to consist of 23 acrocentric elements. Thus the 17-chromosome complement of male truxalines is argued to have been derived from the basic type by three successive centric fusions. Such an origin is at variance with the fact that the rod-shaped chromosomes in eight of the nine species utilised in this study turn out in fact to be telocentric. The scheme is also at variance with the finding that significant differences in DNA content exist both between species within the same chromosome group and between member species of the 17 and 23 groups. The concept of karyotypic stability is thus called to question and the relationship of karyotypes within the family must be considerably more complex than has formerly been supposed.