Marvelous Mimics of Evolution - The Katydid or Leaf-Bug (In My Kitchen!)

winstonalden (64)in #nature • 7 years ago

August is "Insect Noise Month" here in New England. There's a constant hum of buzzes and clicks to be heard any time you step outside. (So long as one of the neighbors isn't mowing their lawn.) It's so constant that you almost forget it's there. Exceptionally hot days come with a high-pitched vibration you seem to feel on the skin more than hear.

It's at night that things really start to go wild. Cicadas, crickets, katydids and grasshoppers all tune up around sunset and carry on their song throughout the night. I find it quite soothing - and apparently I'm not the only one. The nine-hour "Katydid Sleep Sound" video at the bottom of this post has over 50,000 views.

For all that this insect symphony is constantly going on around us, it's strange how rarely we actually see the performers. That's why I was startled when I went to the kitchen this morning and found this guy hanging out on the tile.

It's a katydid!

You can see why they're so hard to spot in the wild. Those wings look so like leaves, it's hard to believe it's actually a walking, talking insect. The effect is especially striking when it's back-lit. Look at the transparency of those wings, and the vein-patterns! The legs look more like twigs, and even the discoloration between the head and the thorax, and the dark spots along the wings, give it the convincing look of a plant in late August, just at the verge of decay. Amazing that it copies it's environment so thoroughly that it actually reproduces the imperfections!

Evolution sure produces some marvelous mimics. There are major difference between plant and animal cells, and yet, here's an animal that looks so like a plant, you'd be forgiven for thinking it could photosynthesize. (It can't. I knew it was impossible but I looked it up anyway.)

I'm not sure how this guy got in, but he was very polite about standing still while I took some photographs. Maybe it just wanted to step out of the forest and feel appreciated for a moment. I think it even winked at me during the close-up.