Re: Raspy cricket from Australia
Hi Bugman,
When I first saw the image submitted of the ‘raspy cricket’ from Australia, I thought it was a moss mimicking katydid. It’s fascinating how similar they are in appearance. I had submitted my photo to your site, and did receive an e-mail reply, but apparently my image was not sufficient for an ID. I did manage to eventually get it identified:
This a nymph of Championica montana Saussure & Pictet, 1898 (Pseudophyllinae, Pleminiini), a gorgeous moss mimicking katydid, common in Mesoamerica. I never managed to record its call, but its close relative, C. cristulata, has a very bird-like, frequency modulated call, very unusual for New World Tettigoniidae. Cheers,
Piotr
Piotr Naskrecki, Ph. D.
Director, Invertebrate Diversity Initiative
Conservation International
Dear Nancy or Piotr,
We are sorry we failed in the original identification of this Moss Mimicking Katydid. We recall these images, but it seems we never posted them to our site. When we are very busy, sometimes we don’t have time to post everything we want to post or should post. Please provide us with some background. When and where was the photo taken? Was it photographed in Nicaragua in 2005 as the name of the digital file implies? Also, was this letter submitted by Nancy and is Piotr the expert who identified it? Is there a good link with information on the species?
Hi Daniel,
Yes, the katydid was photographed at Selva Negra, Nicaragua in 2005. I have copied the entire e-mail chain for you as it gives everyone’s titles as well as a few sites. Hope this info is helpful to your site. p.s. I just bought a camera with Macro capability and am headed back to Selva Negra in January. I’m going to check out that huge boulder again 🙂
Nancy Collins, Wisconsis
Editor’s Note: Here is Nancy’s original email (that was sent to several knowledgeable experts as well as to What’s That Bug?) and responses she received.
(08/28/2007) Greetings,
Is there any advice you can give me on how to find the name of this insect? I encountered it in Nicaragua. It was about 6 inches long, and was very flat. The hind legs were flat against the rock. It was sharing a huge boulder with hundreds of spiders. Thank you for your time,
Nancy Collins, Wisconsin
Tom – what do you say about this critter?
Lyle Buss
Insect Identification Laboratory
Entomology & Nematology Dept.
University of Florida
Flat Nicaraguan Katydid
Piotr,
Can you identify this beast? The best I could do was to suspect it was a Pseudophylline.
Thomas J. Walker
Department of Entomology & Nematology
University of Florida, Gainesville, FL
Dear Tom,
This a nymph of Championica montana Saussure & Pictet, 1898 (Pseudophyllinae, Pleminiini), a gorgeous moss mimicking katydid, common in Mesoamerica. I never managed to record its call, but its close relative, C. cristulata, has a very bird-like, frequency modulated call, very unusual for New World Tettigoniidae. Cheers,
Piotr Naskrecki, Ph. D. Director, Invertebrate Diversity Initiative
Conservation International
Museum of Comparative Zoology, Harvard University
Hi Nancy,
Thanks for providing us with this wonderful identification chain and also for resending your photos to us despite us failing to provide you with and identification. As your email chain indicates, even qualified experts had difficulty with the exact identification. Identification of many rain forest species is nearly impossible without the help of specialists.