Camo

Identification - Orophus conspersus (preliminary, not confirmed).

I was moving in to photograph a small fly, when half the leaf took off, quite startling me. I managed to follow the bug which landed about 20 feet further along the path. Unfortunately, as often happens with crickets, it vanished as soon as it landed.

I approached the bush and after a couple of minutes of staring, the cricket appeared again. The bush was hanging over the steep bank down to the stream, so I did the best I could and was very pleased with the resulting image.

The bug was a katydid, its body only half of the length of the wings. I disturbed the bug again in the hope of a better location, but that was all I was going to get. Head to tip of wings was around 2", but with the legs and antennae extended, was closer to 5".

The bug, once it lands, extends its extremely long legs to the rear and extends its front legs and antennae forward, giving it the appearance of a blade of grass or merely a blemish on the leaf, rendering the katydid quite invisible. I am sure a few of you will have to look more than once to spot the bug.

May not be the most exciting of blips, but I certainly found it interesting as my first sighting of this creature.

Dave