Early stages of narrow-winged saltbush grasshopper, Aeoloplides tenuipennis, have not been figured in the literature, hindering their separation from economically harmful or benign species of grasshoppers and hampering ecological or taxonomic investigations. During June and July 2015, five instars of A. tenuipennis were collected or photographed at two sites in Cochise County, Arizona, U.S.A. These are illustrated alongside a brief morphometric table. Notes on habitat, identification and polychromatism, and a comparison with 4^th and 5^th instars of the widespread snakeweed grasshopper, Hesperotettix viridis viridis, are included.