Thursday, October 7, 2010

Pyschedelic Katydid from the Manu Cloudforest

Until now I'd never seen a katydid that wasn't all green or some cryptic mottled brown. Tom Collins spotted this thing flying along as it proceeded to land on my rain jacket in the cloudforest above San Pedro on the Manu Road. I think we were all watching a Yellow-rumped Antwren at the time – a really good bird – and we all had to stop to admire this amazing orthopteran. Notice the long, filamentous antennae – one good clue that this is not a grasshopper. And also the long "horn" at the end of the abdomen – that's the ovipositor, signifying that this is a female.


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