What is this?
Location: Santa Barbara, California
April 30, 2011 8:38 pm
This insect was on a poppy in my garden in Santa Barbara, California, USA. Do you know what it is?
Signature: Joan
Hi Joan,
This is a very young nymph of one of the Bush Katydids in the genus Scudderia, most likely the Fork Tailed Bush Katydid, Scudderia furcata. You can compare your image to this photo from BugGuide. The striped antennae of the nymphs are quite distinctive and adults are green, well camouflaged insects that resemble Grasshoppers but with long antennae. General information on the genus can be found on bugGuide. Katydids feed on foliage and flowers, but they are generally not plentiful enough to do major damage. In our own Southern California garden, adults have a fondness for eating the petals on red roses, and we tolerate this since one of the reasons we plant flowers is to attract insects.