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Small, well-camouflaged Katydid (1 cm long), adult female with short wings and a very long ovipositor about equal to the length of her body. She had a stripe in each eye and two stripes on the thorax. One antenna is missing, the other is probably partly missing. Family Tettigoniidae, Subfamily Conocephalinae (Coneheads and Meadow Katydids).
Open field, semi-urban area, outskirts of San Cristobal de Las Casas, 2,200 meters.
Spotted on Jan 9, 2014
Submitted on Feb 3, 2014
4 Comments
Thank you ForestDragon, I'm convinced :)
There are some Katydids that have flatter wings. Subfamily Conocephalinae (Meadow Katydids and Coneheads) are generally smaller and have a more "crickety" body type.
Coneheads have the slanted head with a little "horn" between the antennae, like yours. They are also a bit larger and more robust than the Meadow Katydids. Here are some pictures:
http://bugguide.net/node/view/837908/bgi...
http://bugguide.net/node/view/841540/bgi...
http://bugguide.net/node/view/883872/bgi...
http://bugguide.net/node/view/794163/bgi...
http://bugguide.net/node/view/568225/bgi...
Unfortunately, I don't know what species are found in your area. She may be a species that the wings remain small or she may be a nymph (my guess).
See what you think. I'm not an expert by any stretch, just an avid enthusiast!
Hi ForestDragon. You have me lost here now. I was thinking Cricket because of the flattened back and short wings. But you are right, the head doesn't look Crickety, which are usually all rounded and this one is pointed. I can't tell if all Crickets have to have cerci and there is a subfamily of sword-tail crickets (the Trigonidiinae) but they all seem to have cerci. This one doesn't and it doesn't seem likely it would lose both cerci. One antenna is missing and the other might be broken, it kind of looks broken. Because of the head shape and lack of cerci would you think Katydid? Do you think the wings are still growing? The dorso-ventrally flattened short wings are not like any katydids I've seen before.
Hi Lauren, nice series!
I would say that this looks more like a female Katydid nymph (perhaps a cone-head, Tribe Copiphorini, not sure on that), with that sword-like ovipositor. Crickets generally have more needle shaped ovipositors.