Leaf-mimic katydid

There are many insects in the family Tettigoniidae (bush crickets or katydids) which are mimics of leaves.[1] At a distance the katydid is an example of crypsis evading detection by blending into its background; up close the katydid mimics a leaf.[2]

This type of camouflage occurs in several subfamilies, among others including:

Other unrelated insects adopting a similar camouflage strategy include the leaf insects.

  • Typophyllum laciniosum, Tambopata File:National Reserve, Peru
  • Aegimia elongata
  • Pycnopalpa bicordata, Trinidad
  • Onomarchus kanara

References

  1. ^ James L. Castner & David A. Nickle (1995). "Intraspecific color polymorphism in leaf-mimicking katydids (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae: Pseudophyllinae: Pterochrozini)". Journal of Orthoptera Research. 4 (4): 99–103. doi:10.2307/3503464. JSTOR 3503464.
  2. ^ Endler, John A. (August 1981). "An overview of the relationships between mimicry and crypsis". Biological Journal of the Linnean Society. 16 (1): 25–31. doi:10.1111/j.1095-8312.1981.tb01840.x.
  3. ^ Orthoptera species file (retrieved 13 January 2018)


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.