moss camo orthoptera
Location: Bioko Island, Equatorial Guinea
March 2, 2011 4:38 pm
found this guy on bioko island in a caldera. thought it was pretty neat. would you be able to id for me?
Signature: tim
Hi Tim,
We have been getting some interesting photos of moss and lichen mimicking Katydids from various places in the world lately, and we have been enlisting the assistance of Katydid expert Piotr Naskrecki in the species or genus identification. We will write to Piotr to get his opinion.
Piotr Naskrecki provides an identification
Hi Daniel,
This is a pretty rarely collected beast, Batodromeus subulo (Pseudophyllinae, Pleminiini). The genus Batodromeus is remarkably similar to the neotropica moss-mimicking genus Championica, but the two do not appear to be closely related.
Cheers,
Piotr
Thanks Piotr,
Is it rare because it is endemic to the caldera?
Daniel
Daniel,
This species is not endemic to Bioko, it is known also from Cameroon, but it is very rarely collected because of its association with canopy epiphytes. In 5 years of katydid collecting in West Africa I only managed to find one individual of the genus Batodromeus.
Cheers,
Piotr
On Mar 4, 2011, at 2:20, daniel marlos <[email protected]> wrote: