The Common Garden Katydid is a quite common backyard buddy and garden visitor. It's a cousin to the grasshopper and cricket, about 4 to 6 cm in length with extremely long, thin antennae, and powerful back legs for jumping.
There are about 1000 species in Australia and they are part of the orthopteran group of insects, which means 'straight wings'.
Like crickets, male Katydids play songs to attract females by rubbing their wings together.
The call is supposed to sound like 'Katy-did'. Some Katydid songs, however, are at too high a frequency for human ears to hear.
You may not know much about Katydids, probably because they are masters of camouflage. Their green colouring and leaf-like shape helps them blend into leafy surroundings, and they are most active at night. They may be tough to spot, but may be a lot more common than you think. They can be found all over Australia wherever there are leafy plants.
I will try and post an image of an adult katydid soon :)
@quietpurplehaze my daughter has two adults in enclosures atm for work - I will try and get a shot without letting them escape ha ha
I love basil too Hazel - I just walk past and the movement sends the aroma into the air
@louannwarren she is a zookeeper and has an interest in animals of all varieties - her friend is very knowledgeable about invertebrates and we often send her pics to identify ☺
I've had a few in the yard that I was able to photograph (not from this vantage point though!). I got one mad once too- boy did "he" make a ruckus! Then he flew off. Great shot!
March 8th, 2018
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Yes, mine was luminous green! And I thought that looked like a basil leaf - I love the smell of basil.
I love basil too Hazel - I just walk past and the movement sends the aroma into the air