Why is that leaf walking on that flower?
Erika Hoenisch Elliott took this photo of a Katydid on a Zinnia growing in her Tehachapi yard.
Erika says that her sighting of this harmless insect was an indirect result of the pandemic: “As we stayed at home this summer and I grew some flowers, like Zinnias, we had many visitors. The two weirdest ones were a Katydid and a Praying Mantis, and I had never seen a Katydid before. I enjoyed watching both this one and the mantis crawling around in my plants. Fascinating shapes they have.”
The creature in Erika’s photo appears to be a Broadwinged Katydid (Microcentrum rhombifolium). Katydids are related to crickets and grasshoppers, and they mostly spend their time in trees and shrubs, munching on leaves and using their amazing resemblance to a leaf as camouflage from the many assorted predators that would love to catch a large, tender and virtually defenseless insect like this one.
Katydids can fly, though not very quickly or for long distances, and they use their normally concealed wings to move from one tree to another. The clicking noise that you hear coming from the tree canopy on summer nights, the “tick tick tick tick” sound, is being made by male Katydids advertising their talent and virility to attract a date. It is apparently made by rubbing one large hind leg against specialized structures on the insect’s forewing.
Together with assorted crickets and Pacific Chorus Frogs, Katydids are an important part of the nightly soundtrack to summer nights outside in the Tehachapi Mountains.
NATURAL SIGHTINGS is a regular feature of the Tehachapi News edited by Jon Hammond which showcases photos of the natural beauty that enhances the quality of life in Tehachapi. If you have a good quality image of plants, animals, insects, trees, birds, weather phenomena, etc., taken in the Tehachapi area, you may submit it to the Tehachapi News for possible publication. Submissions can be dropped by the News office in the form of a print or CD, or sent by email to: editorial@tehachapinews.com.