Home » Guide » Arthropods (Arthropoda) » Insects (Insecta) » Grasshoppers, Crickets, Katydids (Orthoptera) » Long-horned Orthoptera (Ensifera) » Katydids (Tettigoniidae)

Family Tettigoniidae - Katydids

Straight-lanced Meadow Katydid - Conocephalus strictus - female

Handsome Meadow Katydid - Orchelimum pulchellum - male

Swift Conehead - Neoconocephalus velox - female

Drumming Katydid - Meconema thalassinum - male

Pink bug taken in lower corner of michigan - Amblycorypha

Common True Katydid - Pterophylla camellifolia

Shield-backed Katydid - Atlanticus americanus

Greater arid-land predaceous Katydid - Neobarrettia spinosa - female

Classification

Kingdom Animalia (Animals)

Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)

Class Insecta (Insects)

Order Orthoptera (Grasshoppers, Crickets, Katydids)

Suborder Ensifera (Long-horned Orthoptera)

Family Tettigoniidae (Katydids)

Other Common Names

Long-horned Meadow Grasshoppers

Synonyms and other taxonomic changes

Tettigoniae and 7 other synonyms listed at OSF

classification follows Orthoptera Species File; see Taxonomy Proposals topic here

Explanation of Names

Author of family is Krauss, 1902. Family name is from genus Tettigonia. This is New Latin (Linnaeus, 1748), from Greek τεττιξ (τεττιγ-), a cicada (1).

Numbers

266 species in 50 genera listed at nearctica.com

Insects of Cedar Creek cites "243 species" for North America

Size

medium-sized (about 10 mm), to large (60 mm or more)

Identification

wings held vertically over body, resembling roof of a house

antennae very long, often extending well beyond tip of abdomen

all tarsi with 4 segments (formula 4-4-4), compare crickets (3-3-3)

tympana (hearing organs) on front tibiae

ovipositor typically flattened and sword-like

Food

Most species eat vegetation. A few are predatory on other insects.

Print References

The Century Dictionary--entries for Tettigonia, Tettix (1)

Capinera, p. 155 (2)

Arnett, p. 160 (3)

Helfer, p. 262 (4)

Castner, p. 66 (5)

Bland, pp. 96-98 (6)

Internet References

Singing Insects of North America: key to families and subfamilies and family page

Insects of Cedar Creek

classification plus common name reference, synonyms, literature citations, and included taxa (Orthoptera Species File)

Works Cited

1.	The Century Dictionary: an encyclopedic lexicon of the English language

2.	Field Guide To Grasshoppers, Katydids, And Crickets Of The United States By John L. Capinera, Ralph D. Scott, Thomas J. Walker

3.	American Insects: A Handbook of the Insects of America North of Mexico By Ross H. Arnett

4.	How to Know the Grasshoppers, Cockroaches, and Their Allies By Jacques R. Helfer

5.	Photographic Atlas of Entomology and Guide To Insect Identification By James L. Castner

6.	How to Know the Insects By Roger G. Bland, H.E. Jaques

Contributed by Cotinis on 16 February, 2004 - 12:32pm
Additional contributions by Robin McLeod
Last updated 1 February, 2008 - 8:33am

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