Mountain Katydid - Acripeza reticulata
Family TETTIGONIIDAE
This page contains pictures and information about the Mountain Katydids that we found in the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia.
- Female, body length 30mm
- Mountain Katydid is one of the Australian Insect Icon because of its remarkable colours. In normal, the insect is well camouflage as dry leaf in dark brown colour. The katydid doesn't show her colours unless she is disturbed. Then she raises her pair of wing-covers and exposes the bright red, blue and black striped abdomen.
- Female is wingless, only has the wing-covers. Male is fully winged and look quite different. We found the females a few times but did not found any male yet.
- Check this page to hear their calling. They sing in late afternoon and continues until after dark. Females lay eggs on twigs or branches.
- Mountain Katydid is expected to be found in high altitude habitat. Anyway, we first found this Mountain Katydid nymph near Yugarapul Park in Sunny Bank, Brisbane. It was September 2002.
- Nymph, body length 25mm
- The Mountain katydid nymph is black in colour with two white strips on its back. It is slow moving. When disturbed, it bends its abdomen and show the bright orange colour.
- First found
- The nymph was resting on a dry grass. We took it home to see how it grow. It dead two months later, It moulted once within the two months. We can see its wing-buds then so it could be its last instars stage when its dead. We do not know why it dead before it matured.
- Two months later
- We found that it feed on grass and like to eat the grass seeds. In the close up picture, we can cleanly see its mouth-parts and its hearing organs on its front legs.
- Mountain Katydid, adult female Photos by Trina de Cusack - North Haven, NSW
- Trina de Cusack from NSW sent us the two photos above. Trina told us that the Mountain Katydid was found on "Big Brother Mountain" over looking Laurieton in the Camden Haven mid north coast of NSW. It was camouflaged with the gum tree fallen remnants on side of walking track. It was externally in mauve colour. When noticed it was strutting in a half circular pattern of movent back and forth with rear facing outside. It lifted his wings even higher when came closer, demonstrating its false bravado red and blue abdomen.
- Mountain Katydid, adult female, body length 30mm
- After three years of searching, in Dec 2005, we found another Mountain Katydid in Yugarapul Park. It was an adult. It was resting on a Monkey Rope (Parsonsia straminea) leaf above half a meter above ground in a hot summer afternoon.
- The katydid was slow moving and seems can not jump like other katydid. When disturbed, it drop onto the ground and displayed it colour-banded abdomen.
- Mountain Katydid, adult female, body length 40mm
- On Feb 2007, in Karawatha Forest Wild-May Trail just next to the Lagoon, we found another female Mountain Katydid. It was quite unexpected because where was an open Eucalypt Forest next to the wetland, very different from the dense forest in Yugarapul Park. The only thing in common was both locations were very close to a creek with small pond.
- The insect was resting on a large tree trunk about 1 meter above ground. After we took some photos, it jumped onto the ground and slowly walk away.
- This individual we found is the largest. Its body length was 40mm.
- Reference:
- 1. Insects of Australia, CSIRO, Division of Entomology, Melbourne University Press, 2nd Edition 1991, pp 384.
- 2. Acripeza reticulata - Australian Insect Common Names, CSIRO, 16 June 2005.
- 3. Australian Insects, An Introductory Handbook - Keith C. McKeown, 1945, p56.
- 4. Insects of Australia and New Zealand - R. J. Tillyard, Angus & Robertson, Ltd, Sydney, 1926, p95.
- 5. Grasshopper Country - the Abundant Orthopteroid Insects of Australia, D Rentz, UNSW Press, 1996, p111.
- 1. Insects of Australia, CSIRO, Division of Entomology, Melbourne University Press, 2nd Edition 1991, pp 384.
