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Katydid or Grasshopper?
Dear Bugman,
I’m eager to know exactly what this guy is. I found him trapped in an umbrella this morning (July 8th) and when I freed him he bit me. I dropped him and he assumed a very angry and threatening pose and even chased me around the street. He either couldn’t fly, or chose not to because he ran everywhere, almost like a cockroach. He was an able climber and scaled a wall to make his escape. It was very ungrasshopper-like behavior, and after reviewing your grasshopper/katydid page, I’m beginning to wonder if he’s the latter. I snapped a few pictures, one with his wings exposed and one without (see links). I live in Fukushima Prefecture, Japan. I hope you can tell me what the hell he is!
(the) Brian Adler

Hi Brian,
We don’t have access to information that would identify the species or genus, but this may be one of the Katydids in the family Tettigoniidae. It reminds us of one of the predatory species in the U.S. Neobarrettia spinosa, and could be closely related.

Update: (07/03/2008) Katydid IDs from Piotr Naskrecki
Hi,
I have been looking at the page with unidentified katydids (Katydids 2), and thought I could help with some ID’s. From top to bottom they are: Japanese “katydid” – not a katydid but Gryllacrididae, Prosopogryllacris japonica

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