Katydid Eggs

Katydid Eggs

bugman

February 2nd, 2006 at 1:00 am

Categories

Katydids

Another for your eggs page?
Hi. I’ve been enjoying your site for months (some people would probably say I’ve been enjoying it too much; I think the whole household is getting tired of being called in to see some weird/beautiful/crazy bug!). It’s helped me with several buggy identity questions. But, finally I’ve got one that has me stumped. Found these on a dead branch of an heirloom rose bush (Zepherine Drouhin, 1861) this afternoon, and am totally clueless. At first I thought scale, then hibernating insects…once I pried a couple loose (believe me, they were stuck down quite well!), and saw that they were the same featurless pearly lavender grey on the underside, I realized I was looking at egg cases. But of what? We don’t get a whole lot of insect life on the plants (aside from 2005’s Japanese Beetle invasion), being on the third floor, so it’s most likely something that flies. We’ve had an exceptionally mild winter here in Maryland (so mild I hesitate to glorify it with ‘winter’, in fact), so insect oddities are sure to abound this summer. These are about 1/8 of an inch long, neatly tiled (there are six of them in total), and the color is right in the middle between these two photos. I’m just north of Washington DC. I’d kind of like to know what these are before I succumb to my usual ‘bring it inside and see what it hatches into!’ impulse. My roommates may not be happy if I let a hundred or so Japanese Beetles or something hatch in the kitchen! (but I’ll be a hero to the cats for bringing them toys.
judy renee

Hi Judy,
Just think of the thrill your household will get when you show them your letter posted. These are Katydid Eggs. Katydids lay their disklike eggs in the fall. The eggs of the angularwinged katydid are 0.125 to 0.15 inch long and laid in two overlapping rows on the surface of twigs and leaves, just as your photo indicates.