Identification, Images, & Information
For Insects, Spiders & Their Kin
For the United States & Canada

Species Phyllopalpus pulchellus - Handsome Trig

Phyllopalpus pulchellus - female Red-headed Bush Cricket - Phyllopalpus pulchellus - male Phyllopalpus pulchellus - female Phyllopalpus pulchellus - male Red-Headed Bush Cricket - Phyllopalpus pulchellus - female Phyllopalpus pulchellus - male Bush Cricket - Phyllopalpus pulchellus Handsome Trig - Phyllopalpus pulchellus - female
Classification
Kingdom Animalia (Animals)
Phylum Arthropoda (Arthropods)
Subphylum Hexapoda (Hexapods)
Class Insecta (Insects)
Order Orthoptera (Grasshoppers, Crickets, Katydids)
Suborder Ensifera (Long-horned Orthoptera)
Infraorder Gryllidea (Crickets)
Family Trigonidiidae
Subfamily Trigonidiinae (Winged Bush Crickets, Trigs)
Genus Phyllopalpus
Species pulchellus (Handsome Trig)
Other Common Names
Red-headed Bush Cricket
Synonyms and other taxonomic changes
Phyllopalpus pulchellus Uhler, 1864
Explanation of Names
pulchellus-pretty or beautiful
Numbers
1 species in this genus in the U.S.
Size
7-9mm
Identification
Distinctive appearance. Red head/throrax, pale legs, dark bluish-black forewings. Last segment of palp is black and oval flattened shape. Female forewings are convex similar to beetles. (1) Song (of male) is a "rattling, broken trill" (2), given both day and night.
Left wing of male is clear (2), apparently modified for stridulation.
Range
Southeast U.S. north to Massachusetts, excluding South Florida. (3)
Habitat
Found in vegetation near streams and marshes, about a meter above the ground. (1)
Season
Single generation; adults begin to appear in July/early August. (1)
Remarks
Speculation (P. Coin/Cotinis)
Perhaps Batesian mimics of Bombardier Beetles, Brachinus, and relatives:
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The color scheme is a match, broadly, and the dark basal antenna segments contribute to the appearance of beetle mandibles. The enlarged tips of the palps, when held up, resemble the dark eyes of the beetle. Folded forewings of female are convex, "beetle-like" (1), and striated.
Another hypothesis, not mutually exclusive, is that the prominent, and mobile, palps represent mimicry of jumping spiders, Salticidae (Naskrecki, 2012).
See Also
Capinera remarks that there are no similar species in the U.S. (1).
Print References
Capinera, pp. 202-203 & plate 44 (1)
Elliott and Hershberger, pp. 90-91, CD track 24 (2)
Helfer, pp. 331-332, fig. 529 (4)
Rannels et al., CD track 39 (5)
Internet References
Singing Insects of North America--handsome trig
MacRae, Ted (2014). Beetles in the Bush--My, what busy palps you have!
Nasrecki, Piotr (2012). The Smaller Majority--Red-headed Bush Cricket, part 2
Works Cited
1.Field Guide To Grasshoppers, Katydids, And Crickets Of The United States
John L. Capinera, Ralph D. Scott, Thomas J. Walker. 2004. Cornell University Press.
2.The Songs of Insects
Lang Elliott, Wil Hershberger. 2007. Houghton Mifflin.
3.Singing Insects of North America
4.How to Know the Grasshoppers, Cockroaches, and Their Allies
Jacques R. Helfer. 1962. Wm. C. Brown Company.
5. Songs of Crickets and Katydids of the Mid-Atlantic States
Steve Rannels, Wil Hershberger and Joseph Dillon. 1998. (authors).