curve-tailed bush katydid

not listed

NNR - Unranked

not listed

Curve-tailed bush katydid may be the most common large bush katydid. Adult males are 17 ⁄16″ to 1⅞″ in total length. Females are slightly smaller.

The head is oval. The eyes are round and protruding. The antennae are thread-like and longer than the wings. They are attached close together high on the face. The space between them is narrower than the length of the basal segment of the antennae. The forehead does not project forward between the antennae.

The thorax, abdomen, wings, and femurs are pale grass green. The body is ⅝″ to 1⅛″ long. The upper side (dorsum) does not have a brown stripe.

The wings are 1″to 17 ⁄16″ long. The forewings (tegmina) are longer than the abdomen and longer than the hindwing. They are narrow, more than four times but less than six times as long as wide at their widest point; green, rarely with black marks; rounded at the tip; and have a single shallow angle near the base.

The front legs are much shorter than the hind legs. The femur of the hind leg is long, extending to the last (distal most) quarter of the outer wing.

On the male, the structure below the genitalia (subgenital plate) is conspicuous, elongated, Y-shaped, and arched upward.

On the female the ovipositor is abruptly curved upward.

Curve-tailed bush katydid (S. c. curvicauda) range extends into Minnesota. It is relatively large, 1⅝″ to 1⅞″in total length.

Northern curve-tailed bush katydid (S. c. borealis) may occur in Minnesota. It is relatively small, 17 ⁄16″ to 19 ⁄16″ in total length.

Total length: 17 ⁄16″ to 1⅞″

Woodlands, deciduous forests

Late spring to autumn. One generation per year.

After mating, the female lays eggs either in a double row on a slender twig or between the upper and lower outer surfaces of a leaf. The eggs overwinter and hatch in the spring.

Plant juices

Leaves and tender twigs of a variety of plants.

Sources

24, 27, 29, 30, 82.

The Orthoptera of Minnesota, Volumes 76-90, University of Minnesota, Agricultural Experiment Station, 1932, p. 58.

Common

curve-tailed bush katydid (Scudderia curvicauda) or broad-winged bush katydid (Scudderia pistillata)

Sun’s glare lost detail (It was trapped under a tarp, maybe loss of darker color?)

Location: Hennepin County

curve-tailed bush katydid (Scudderia curvicauda) or broadwinged bush katydid (Scudderia pistillata)

Sun’s glare lost detail (It was trapped under a tarp, maybe loss of darker color?)

Location: Saint Cloud, Stearns County

Location: Near the Visitors’ Center, Minnesota Valley National Wildlife Refuge

Location: Plymouth