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Project Noah Nature School
Austrophlugis malidupa
Very small Katydid nymph, body less than 10mm in length. Beautiful lime green colour, translucent body parts, and body/legs very slender. Long, fine antennae. A fresh new baby from all appearances. When it hopped, it was lightning fast! Katydids are Tettigoniids and may be distinguished from grasshoppers by the length of their filamentous antennae, which may exceed their own body length, while grasshoppers' antennae are always relatively short and thickened.
This little one jumped from the tree onto my shirt, and finally onto the back of my middle finger. I took a photo, and when I was done I placed it back into the tree.
I reckon that's a good ID. The images, particularly the first and third images, look spot on. I did look at the Brisbane Insects photos initially but wasn't too sure, but the other images give me a lot more confidence. I've only one photo myself, but I did have a good look at this fellow before I released him. Thank you. I'll go with your ID, and I appreciate all of your efforts, bayucca.
Usually I am far away of daring to ID a katydid nymph, but this one might be a nice match! What do you or others think??
I would never dare to ID this one from this picture, but maybe the spotter had more pictures of it?
http://www.projectnoah.org/spottings/214...
http://www.flickr.com/photos/40132175@N0...
http://brisbanemacro.files.wordpress.com...
http://www.brisbaneinsects.com/brisbane_...
Thanks, bayucca. I just noticed that while doing image searches. Silly me, I should have known better. Great info you've given too. Cheers for that :-)
Looks more like a Tettigonidae, Katydid nymph if you look at the very long antennae. Sometimes they are also called long-horned grasshopper, but I would not use this term for katydids to avoid confusing with the "real" grasshopper. Both are Orthoptera, katydids (US) or bush crickets (UK) are Ensifera, grasshoppers are Caelifera.
Yours is from the superfamily Tettigonioidea or family Tettigoniidae.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ensifera
Spotted on Mar 6, 2014
Submitted on Mar 6, 2014
+2
