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A wonderful Katydid closely resembling a leaf, even with respect to the leaf venation and "feeding spots". It was about 5 cm long. I found it because it was in the wrong tree and didn't match the leaves. It has an interesting behavior. The long pointed snoot is pressed tightly against the branch (as it would if it were a leaf petiole). That forces the "leaf-end" of the katydid up off the branch, resembling even more the natural pose of a leaf. The first two pictures show the nose pressed into the branch, which is the position that I found it in. Family Tettigoniidae.
Found in a tree at night. Reserva de la Biosfera Calakmul.
The hind legs have the femora and tibiae expanded, leaf-like, while the first two pair of legs have the lower segments brown instead of green to more closely blend with the branches.
Spotted on Feb 18, 2015
Submitted on Mar 12, 2015
8 Comments
Thank you Leuba and armadeus, :):)
Wow! These little critters are awesome. It's pretty amazing how they've learned to adapt to their environment...let's not mention it doesn't match those particular leaves :D Thank you so much for sharing Lauren!!!
Brilliant Lauren !
Thank you Fyn and Mark :)
Wonderful series.
Your spotting has been nominated for the Spotting of the Week. The winner will be chosen by the Project Noah Rangers based on a combination of factors including: uniqueness of the shot, status of the organism (for example, rare or endangered), quality of the information provided in the habitat and description sections. There is a subjective element, of course; the spotting with the highest number of Ranger votes is chosen. Congratulations on being nominated!
Thank you Cindy :)
That is one very interesting looking Katydid! Another wonderful spotting, Lauren.