Katydid - a brown one

MacroLuv · Post by **MacroLuv** » Sun Jan 13, 2008 7:50 am

I find them mostly green but this one is brownish.

Model Canon EOS 400D DIGITAL
Date/time original 07.06.2007 10:01:42
Shutter speed value 1/200 s
Aperture value f/8
ISO speed ratings ISO 200
Focal length 100 mm

beetleman · Post by **beetleman** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 6:56 am

Hi Nikola, a nice looking hopper. The background makes me a little nervous

. Have we ever discussed the difference between a katydid and a grasshopper here in the forums? I am not saying you are wrong, I am just wondering what the difference is.

Tony T · Post by **Tony T** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 8:23 am

I'll let Nikola elaborate. But basically, Grasshoppers are "short horns" (antennae less than length of body; Katydids are the "long horns" as in Nikola's image.

MacroLuv · Post by **MacroLuv** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 10:53 am

Thanks guys.

Yep, the easiest way to distinguish them is by length of antennae.
An antennae longer than body length and with up to 30 segments is a pretty good sign of katydid.

Katydids and/or bush-crickets (more British English term, they are also known as long-horned grasshoppers) belongs to the
suborder Ensifera while grasshoppers belongs to the suborder Caelifera and have antennae that are almost always shorter than the body and short ovipositors.
Ensiferans and Caeliferans also differ in the location of the tympana and modes of sound production.
Evolutionary, the split between this two suborders had happened in the Permo-Triassic boundary.

beetleman · Post by **beetleman** » Mon Jan 14, 2008 3:03 pm

Well, that makes it rather easy as long as I can place it somewere in my longterm memory and remember it. Thanks for the info.