katydidz - Tumblr blog

[katydidz]

I really love those grasshoppers, how cool!! Thank you for sharing them with us :)

Yay! I love them so much! I can't help but want to pick them up, which naturally they don't like. One of them let me know by giving me a little nip when it was crawling on my arm (though tbh it could've just been testing to see if i was food because I've seen similar tiny bites on the plants. I was so surprised that i scooched it off on to the plant and kept saying 'you bit me!' a good reminder that anything with a mouth can bite

Here one is chowing down on the shallots. It's so cool how they eat! (Maybe volume warning, a trash truck goes by)

[katydidz]

iNaturalist says it may be an obscure bird grasshopper.

[katydidz]

it's your right as a pedestrian to cross the street whenever you feel like it

[katydidz]

[katydidz]

I think one (among many) bonkers things about the replicators in Trek is that we're never shown anyone programming the patterns to be replicated. I want to know what's the future version of solidworks and what the hell a molecular slicer (ie the program that tells the replicator what to generate where, given a design) would even look like. And I assume everyone that works on a starship on an engineering/scientific capacity can use both in their sleep. On second thought though slicing an object at the atomic level is such an impossible amount of data to even compute, it's no wonder we mostly see characters make use of pre-programmed patterns even outside of food replicators

[katydidz]

@zombievevo submitted: Saw these beauties while at a crafting retreat in Bowie, TX. I saw the first one chilling on the arm of a patio chair, and it wasn't until I tried to get a clearer picture that I saw the one behind it. The second one was actively munching on the plant, and it was so cool to see all the intricate little parts on its face chowing down.

Would love an ID, if possible, and any fun facts about that species, as they as they would be in the same region where I live :)

Very cute little fellas! I love their leg stripes. They are differential grasshoppers, Melanoplus differentialis. I can't tell you much about their lifestyle other than what you could read on wikipedia!

[katydidz]

jackalope girl

[katydidz]

Már megint a mezőn

[katydidz]

[katydidz]

Black-Legged Meadow Katydid - Orchelimum nigripes

Earlier this week (on Tuesday's post), I posed the question, "What you do think will happen if a Katydid hears its own chirping played back to it?" Before doing so, I speculated three possibilities: The Katydid would either ignore the sound/do nothing, move towards the sound or move away from the sound. While anecdotal to this individual, I played the video of its singing back to this individual, and it moved toward the sound. How astonishing! Not only did our stridulating friend move towards the sound, it actively pursued it as I moved the phone through the foliage. It even leapt from stem to stem in order to pursue the source of the sound, its antennae pointing either upward or forward! This male only stopped briefly mid pursuit to stridulate once or twice, and then resumed chasing the phone. Once I stopped playback, the Katydid became still again and resumed its consistent mating call. It's likely that this Katydid pursued its own sound as it mistook it for a much louder rivalling Katydid intruding on its territory, hence the seemingly aggressive behavioral response. As it turns out, there have been multiple observations of Katydid-on-Katydid aggression for the securing of territory between males, particular among the Orchelimum genus!

When two loud, stridulating males find each other, some have reported that they will ward off each other with acoustic signals. If neither backs down, then both individuals fight to determine which singer is the subordinate via Bush-Cricket combat! Such a battle consists of the males trying to grapple each other, scrape at each other with their tarsal claws and bite any vulnerable areas, resulting in body damage, and outer wing/tegmina damage! The latter is particularly disastrous as calling a mate would become more difficult. For herbivores, this behavior is surprisingly vicious! The fight ends when a Katydid concedes and flees to another plant, while the victor can broadcast its song for all to hear. As such, our Katydid friend would have only moved away from the sound if the phone would have caused it harm, but that would never be the case. Moreover, while loud individuals fall into territorial disputes between rivals, silent males do not provoke louds ones, and are thusly allowed to pass. I would wager however, that some older males use this technique to their advantage and strike without provocation in attempt to secure a territory. Females are also silent, so they can pass through a loud male's territory unharmed, but of course the whole point of the singing is to attract a female. With sound, this can be done while bright or (in this instance) in the dark.

Although I had many fresh Mosquito bites as a result of these images, it was worth it to bring you this story and this knowledge. On a funnier note, as this individual was singing into the dusk, my ears were able to find it. However, it took my eyes a bit longer to catch up. It's all the more embarrassing as I was looking directly at it and didn't notice it. This is quite a handy crypsis to have, but other animals may be better suited to track via sound. Thusly, sometimes louder individuals draw the interest of predators as they stridulate. This is the equalizer that allows some quieter, subordinate Katydids to continue singing into the night.

Pictures were taken on August 24, 2024 with a Google Pixel 4. For another refresher on what a Black-Legged Meadow Katydid's song sounds like, you can check out this post as well.

[katydidz]

I fed him honey. He put his forelegs up while eating and seemed excited.

[katydidz]

spongebob and patrick and they are best friends :)

(get prints!) (get stickers!)

[katydidz]

Lucid

[katydidz]

don’t romanticize the past. romanticize the future. the future has starfleet

[katydidz]

叢に隠れて

2013年、伊勢原市。

こうやってバッタの写真を撮るたびによくできた保護色・柄だなあと感心する。

[katydidz]

Admirable grasshopper (Syrbula admirabilis)

[katydidz]

Kagebros!