LEAF-go-VSO
Katydid
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Katydid |
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Katydids are members of a family of more than 4,000 species. They are sometimes called long-horned grasshoppers or bush crickets. Katydids usually have green or brown wings and bodies with long, thin antennae. They live in trees or low lying vegetation (when they are not in our hallway). Here in Simao "katydid-katydid" dominates the warm evening sounds. Katydids make the sound by rubbing a scraper at the base of a front wing across a file on the base of another. These creatures might be small but they can make a real racket, especially when there are a few in the tree outside your bedroom window! Although crickets and grasshoppers are generally harmless creatures to handle, katydids can inflict a painful bite. Some katydids are plant-eaters but many of them eat other insects. The tree-dwelling forms lay their eggs on leaves or branches in the autumn. The adults die during the winter and the following spring the young hatch out of the eggs. They are pale in colour at first but turn leaf-green, like the adults, as they get older.
In some parts of China, katydids are kept as pets. They seem to be fed on rice and other food scraps. Their cages, which are often ornamental, hang outside shops and are an interesting diversion for our children. This picture was taken in the Buddhist Quarter of Xi'an. Despite repeated request from Freda and Edie, we managed to resist taking one away with us.
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