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Project Noah Nature School
Metrioptera roeselii
A wee little grasshopper that was sitting on my steering wheel when I climbed in my car.
The green color (an artifact of lighting, it is obvious to me now) threw me off. Thanks to Piotr Naskrecki for the ID via the Orthopterist's Society Facebook group page....and to "macrocipteryx" for the suggestion as well. There *are* records of the species for Illinois, and apparently it is spreading westward. This is an introduced species from Europe.
This could be a previously undocumented species (in the U.S.A.). I have posted to a Facebook group of experts in hopes we can pin down what exactly it is. It reminds me of the "bush crickets" of Europe more than our own native katydid species (both bush crickets and katydids are in the Tettigoniidae family).
Spotted on May 30, 2012
Submitted on May 31, 2012
