Meadow katydid - Orchelimum nigripes

Compare O. pulchellum

I've finally identified my mystery Orchelimum from down here in North Carolina:

My photo must be O. pulchellum, the Handsome Meadow Katydid. This species also occurs up along the east coast, according to Singing Insects. Their maps show that O. nigripes does not occur down here in NC, mostly. These two species are very, very similar. I think your image could possibly be O. pulchellum. However, the map for O. nigripes looks rather incomplete for Pennsylvania. Compare the two maps: O. nigripes and O. pulchellum. Hard to say.

I added some descriptions from an original reference that say these two can be differentiated based on pronotal shape. See guide pages.

Patrick Coin
Durham, North Carolina

… Cotinis, 5 January, 2005 - 10:36am

Black-legged meadow katydid

I get it, "jump out..." Cute:-)This is a male blacklegged meadow katydid, Orchelimum nigripes, possibly caught in the act of singing. Nice work, they usually dodge behind the grassblade when they see you coming.

… Eric R. Eaton, 13 September, 2004 - 1:21pm

Thanks Eric

I just listened to the song on SINA, and it's an aural match too. Interestingly, the map on SINA doesn't include any of PA in its distribution - while judging by the sounds around me, it's quite common here. And yes, for sure he was singing - a few of my pix came out blurry for that reason :-)

… Rob Broekhuis, 13 September, 2004 - 1:45pm

Added to guide (again)

I moved this to the guide, again, after the database crash.

Patrick Coin
Durham, North Carolina

… Cotinis, 17 September, 2004 - 8:02am