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Bug Tease - The Coolest Katydid

Posted by David Moskowitz on September 21, 2009 at 12:56 PM

In short order I'm going to be posting new photos of some of the insects I found in Panama at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, but since work is really getting in the way today, I won't have time to do it. So, here is a teaser of what to expect. Isn't this one of the coolest katydids you've ever seen? I believe it is a Spike-headed false-leaf katydid (Aegimia elongata). Fortunately, it came to a blacklight I set up at night, because it looks so much like a leaf, finding it during the day would be all but impossible!

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8 Comments

Reply Alan
08:28 AM on September 22, 2009 
Very interesting. I assume it resembles a particular plant. Do you know which one?
Reply David Moskowitz
09:14 AM on September 22, 2009 
Alan, that's a great question. unfortunately I can't answer it without making up an answer. My guess is that the katydid resembles a generalized leaf and not a specific species, but I could be wrong. Barro Colorado Island, like other tropical forests has incredible species diversity of trees and shrubs. I found this on their website to give you a sense of just how diverse it is. This is only from a 50 hectare plot! "Barro Colorado Island (BCI) has been the focus of intensive research on lowland tropical moist forest since 1923, and its flora is better known than any site of comparable size throughout the world. The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and Princeton University established the first Forest Dynamics Plot at BCI in 1980, as part of its comprehensive program of research in tropical forest biology. The first census was completed in 1982, revealing a total of approximately 240,000 stems of 303 species of trees and shrubs."
Reply Alan Moskowitz
09:51 AM on September 22, 2009 
That's a lot of species. Back to the Katydid though - would it be typical for a species to evolve as a generalized leaf? I would think that it would be more likely to evolve specific to some leaf that gave it the most camouflage/protection. Do you know anyone at BCI that might be able to offer an opinion?
Reply David Moskowitz
10:08 AM on September 22, 2009 
I'm sure the leaf this katydid resembles looks like a particular tree or shrub species on BCI, but I'm guessing it is rather generalized to "simply" blend in to whatever it is on. For example, the species of katydids we have in New Jersey are basically green and don't really resemble any leaf in particular, just a leaf generally in shape and in color. Sometimes, it is much better to hedge your bets about where you might wind up at daybreak, so that you instantly blend into whatever green surface you find yourself on, lest you be eaten. Ah, but ain't evolution just a hoot?

I have found through extensive research with other biologists, that many, if not most of these questions are best resolved over beer!
Reply Alan Moskowitz
10:51 AM on September 22, 2009 
Fair enough, I'll accept that.
I tried to read an article entitled "TRANSITION RATES BETWEEN SPECIALIZATION AND GENERALIZATION IN PHYTOPHAGOUS INSECTS" but all I could surmise from it was that the rate of specialization tended to exceed the rate of generalization and that even when species specialized towards a particular plant that it wasn't actually the end of the process and that they could then again evolve towards more generalization. I can see this phenomenon anecdotally in my own evolution where, for example, my late summer focus was very specific to bitter "Big" IPAs but due to seasonal changes in temperature I evolved to more generalized styles like brown ales and (hopefully soon) Oktoberfests....In the end, I'm left wondering if the Katydid sometimes looks like a banana leaf and other times drinks an IPA. Great mysteries of nature.
Reply Very nice site!
04:42 AM on February 27, 2010 
Very nice site!
Reply richardbowcher
07:53 AM on April 20, 2010 
Whats up. You know how you are a katydid well my name is Katie. Thats cool ha. Out of all the tickle bugs you are the best. A katydid has been my favorite bug since I new what 70-505 braindump a bug was. Have you ever got a email from a gril before me? I call my uncal a 70-448 tickel bug ,because he alwase tickles me. I am not at my houes. I'm at my great grandma's houes. I have not much more to say ,but how old are you. I'm 11.
Reply richardbowcher
02:21 AM on May 03, 2010 
Whats up. You know how you are a katydid well my name is Katie. Thats cool ha. Out of all the tickle nbrc test bugs you are the best. A katydid has been my favorite bug since I new what a bug was. Have you ever got a email from a gril before me? I call my uncal a tickel bug ,because ncbtmb test he alwase tickles me. I am not at my houes. I'm at my great grandma's houes. I have not much more to say ,but how old are you. I'm 11.Yo rosco. Geuss what .You knew how your a katydid well my name is Katie. My friends call me nce test Kakay. I think your the tightest out of the tickel bugs. Do you get a lot of letters from grils,or boys? Well you probely know I am a gril. I am not at my houes. I am at my grate grandma's houes. She lives 7 miles past Aburn. I live in N.H,Californa. Were do you live? I have not much more to say, but how old are you, I am 12 yeas old.I have so many questions! Are you the ticklishest in the group? If ncidq test not who is? Do you like to gang up on him/her? Are you ticklish in your armpits? Do you like to tickle?Well of course! Do you like to tickle the other ticklebugs? Do they like to tickle you to? Well thats enough for you to think of! See ya!