A Katydid?
March 17, 2010
Hi Daniel,
Eric Eaton sent me to you and he believes the picture I am attaching is a katydid. At first, thought it was some sort of kissing bug because I live in Antigua Guatemala and woke up one morning to this bugger on a spray bottle in my kitchen. It was huge and scared the daylights out of me! I’m also attaching another picture of a spider my husband found (he works in the Peten in the middle of the jungle.) Was wondering if it is a species of Wolf Spider? (it was the size of my husband’s hand.) Any help would be appreciate.
Natasha
Guatemala
Katydid
Hi Natasha,
We will address you identification requests in different postings. This is definitely a Katydid, but we do not know the species. It is a female. We will contact katydid expert Piotr Naskrecki to see if he recognizes the species.
Hi Daniel,
This is a female of Nannonotus alatus (Tettigoniidae: Pseudophyllinae), a species common at mid- to high elevations (especially in Alajuela and San Jose Provinces), where it can be found under bark of tall trees.
Cheers,
Piotr
¶ Posted 18 March 2010 § ‡ ° small cricket of n.e. thailand sometimes seen in numbers
March 10, 2010
this attractive cricket is often found on leaves , i dont ever recall finding one on the ground.
gary heiden, chiang khan, thailand
loei prov. thailand. about 5km from mekong river.
Unknown Katydid Nymph
Hi Gary,
This is not a cricket, but rather an immature Katydid. Crickets and Katydids are both in the same insect order, Orthoptera, which also includes grasshoppers. Immature Orthopterans are known as nymphs, and they often differ physically from adults in terms of markings and coloration, which can make them difficult to identify. We will contact Piotr Naskrecki, an expert in Katydids, to see if he recognizes the species or genus.
Piotr Naskrecki Responds
Hi Daniel,
The katydid from Thailand is a nymph of Phaneropterinae, but impossible to
tell the genus. Nymphs in this group of katydids are often dramatically
different from the adults.
Piotr
¶ Posted 11 March 2010 § ‡ ° Grasshopper?
March 4, 2010
Found this guy in a pine needle bale from SC while spreading it in NC. Dont know if her was just hitching a ride or what. Brown color…long wings, slender back legs
Luke
NC
Broad Tipped Conehead
Hi Luke,
It is easy to confuse a Katydid with a Grasshopper, but Grasshoppers have shorter, thicker antennae, and Katydids, like your specimen, have longer, more hairlike antennae. Based on our research on BugGuide, this appears to be a Broad Tipped Conehead or Three Eyed Conehead Katydid. We wish you had provided a view of the front of the head as that would have made for a surer identification. Why do you spread pine needles in North Carolina?
Daniel-
That is awesome! I wish I would have had a better picture of the head. I didn’t know the difference between Grasshopper and Katydids but thanks for filling me in! I love to learn as much as I can about what is around me! Being a forestry student at the University of Tennessee I see my fare share of insects and arachnids! I was spreading the pine needles in the back of my parents house in NC. It is funny considering all the pine we have there but I’ve found that the longer needles of some SC long leaf and loblolly pines are better than the ones you can buy at say Lowes or ACE Hardware. I love your site, I wish I would have known more on how to find the insect myself but the link was perfect! Thank you so much for your help and QUICK response! I have donated a few dollars to help keep the site running!
Best of luck,
-Luke-
Hi again Luke,
Thanks for the kind words, the gardening tip, and the generous donation.
Cricket?
February 23, 2010
Wondering what this is – common and latin name
david
chira Island, Costa Rica
Katydid: Ancistrocercus circumdatus
Dear david,
Our readership enjoys hearing details about the sightings that are submitted to our website. For identification purposes, additional information is often quite helpful. The spare wording of your letter (and that of your numerous other submissions) fails to engage our readership and doesn’t provide us with anything helpful except a location. We will contact an expert in the Orthopterans, Piotr Naskrecki, to see if he can provide a response.
Hi Daniel,
This is a pair of Ancistrocercus circumdatus (Pseudophyllinae), a species
common in Guanacaste.
Piotr
Ed. Note:
Technically, these Katydids are not mating, but since Piotr Naskrecki indicated that they are a pair, we are taking creative license and tagging them as Bug Love.
Hi Daniel,
Ok thank you for the feedback. I didn’t want to be long winded as I don’t have too much to offer and I thought people wanted brief listings, but I can add a few things I guess as to the area I found it in. Can I update it online?
Thanks,
David
Yes you may.
¶ Posted 24 February 2010 § ‡ ° Tagged: bug love katydid with leaf-like wings
January 31, 2010
The photo of the dead leaf mimic got me thinking about the katydid I found in my backyard in northwestern New Jersey last August. Its wings have that amazing vein-pattern of leaves. One can see how, with just a little nip and tuck from natural selection, the dead leaf mimics evolve. Thank you for your wonderful work.
jeannie
newton, new jersey
Forktailed Bush Katydid
Hi Jeannie,
Thank you for your kind letter, and also providing such a detailed image of a Bush Katydid in the genus Scudderia. We believe this is a female Scudderia fasciata, the Treetop Bush Katydid, based on images posted to BugGuide. We will see if Piotr Naskrecki is able to provide a confirmation of that identification.
Correction thanks to Piotr Naskrecki
HI Daniel,
I think that this is Scudderia furcata, rather than S. fasciata (which usually has more black coloring on its wings.)
Cheers,
Piotr
Dead leaf mimic
January 31, 2010
Hi, I got a photo of this dead leaf mimic in Monteverde, Costa Rica during a night walk. Can you tell me what it is exactly please?
Thanks
Miles
Costa Rica
Katydid, possibly Mimetica species
Hi Miles,
Often the identification of tropical insects can be very difficult, and the best we are able to do is the family level, or even merely the level of order. Interestingly, back in 2008, we received an image that was taken in Panama in the 1970s of a Katydid that was identified by Piotr Naskrecki, an expert in the family, as Mimetica crenulata. Your Katydid looks very similar to that individual, and we believe it may be in the same genus. While the image of Mimetica crenulata has an undulating wing edge, your specimen has what appears to be the petiole, or place where the leaf would be attached to the plant as part of its very effective mimicry. We will attempt to contact Piotr Naskrecki to verify that identification. More searching led us to a photo online on the Ecolibrary website, but no species name was provided.
Piotr Responds
Hi Daniel,
This is probably a female of Mimetica incisa.
Cheers,
Piotr
¶ Posted 31 January 2010 § ‡ ° Grasshopper with white head and yellow legs
January 19, 2010
I found this grasshopper in a marsh on the boardwalk about 30 miles west of Chicago. He stayed there for about a minute and then jumped off into the weeds. Any ideas? He’s one of the most beautiful grasshoppers I’ve ever seen.
Sam
Wheaton, IL 60187
Meadow Katydid
Hi Sam,
We are late for an appointment right now, and haven’t the time to research this request, though we do have time to post it. Hopefully, one of our readers will be able to assist. We have also requested assistance from Eric Eaton. Your letter did not indicate when the sighting was made, and since there is currently snow in Chicago, we doubt if it was spotted this week.
Sorry; I think it was in July or August if that helps.
Correction courtesy of Eric Eaton
Daniel:
The “grasshopper” is a male meadow katydid in the genus Orchelimum, possibly the black-legged meadow katydid, Orchelimum nigripes, but difficult to be certain. One needs to see a close-up of the tail end to get a species ID.
Eric
Ecuadorian Giant Red Grasshopper
November 9, 2009
We noticed this insect crawling around our lodge one night. The natives told me that it was called a ‘lobster bug,’ and that it may be the adult version of a grasshopper which loses it’s wings at an old age. The wings do appear to be shriveled, and it’s movements were slow. It is several inches long, easily over 8 inches. Hope you can help me identify this beauty.
P.S. His name is Bladerunner
Anthony L.
Napo Valley, Ecuador
Panoploscelis specularis
Dear Anthony,
We randomly selected your letter from our older unanswered mail to post today. This is some species of Longhorned Orthopteran and we are going to write to an expert in the order, Piotr Naskrecki, to see if he can give us a species or genus identification. Based on the presence of an ovipositor, we hve to inform you that Bladerunner is a female.
Panoploscelis specularis
Identification thanks to Piotr Naskrecki
Hi Daniel,
This is a female of Panoploscelis, almost certainly P. specularis
(Pseudophyllinae: Eucocconotini). It is an interesting animal, one in which
the female has fully developed stridulatory organs on her wings, albeit ones
that are not homologous with those of the male. It really is a huge animal,
although probably not 8 inches long, more like 5, ovipositor included (at
least I have never seen an individual longer than that.)
Happy New Year!
Piotr
Ed. Note
Now that we have a name, we searched for some online information and found a detailed scientific paper. We also found a reference to a common name Spiny Lobster Katydid.
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