10-27 mm (head to tip of wings), body length 12-17 mm
Identification
See Singing Insects of North America. Compare the, usually larger, chunkier, Greater Meadow Katydids, Orchelimum. Females of Conocephalus usually have straight ovipositors, while female Orchelimum have curved ovipositors. Many Conocephalus seem to have a clear green "face", while many Orchelimum have some white mottling or other coloration, such as red.
Range
Includes eastern and central North America.
Habitat
Fields, meadows
Season
Late summer to frost. July-October (Michigan, North Carolina), some species later in year in south.
Food
Food habits similar to Orchelimum--feed on leaves, flowers, seeds, and pollen of forbs and grasses. Occasionally predaceous on other insects, less so than Orchelimum. (2)
Life Cycle
Females oviposit in grass-stems. One generation per year.
Borror and White, pp. 82-83, plate 2--C. brevipennis (6)
Rehn JAG, Hebard M. 1915. Studies in American Tettigoniidae. V. A synopsis of the species of the genus Conocephalus (Xiphidium of authors) found in North America north of Mexico. Trans. Am. Entomol. Soc. 41: 155-224. See reference page at SINA for a pdf version.
