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Species Orchelimum pulchellum - Handsome Meadow Katydid

Handsome Meadow Katydid - Orchelimum pulchellum - female Handsome Meadow Katydid - Orchelimum pulchellum - female Colorful Grasshopper  - Orchelimum pulchellum - female Unknown katydid - Orchelimum pulchellum - male meadow katydid - Orchelimum pulchellum - male Kstydid - Orchelimum pulchellum - female Handsome meadow katydid - Orchelimum pulchellum - female saltmarsh katydid #2 – Orchelimum pulchellum? - Orchelimum pulchellum - 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 Tettigoniidea (Katydids, Camel Crickets, and relatives)
Family Tettigoniidae (Katydids)
Subfamily Conocephalinae (Coneheads and Meadow Katydids)
Tribe Conocephalini (Meadow Katydids)
Genus Orchelimum (Greater Meadow Katydids)
Species pulchellum (Handsome Meadow Katydid)
Size
Body length 18-23 mm (not counting ovipositor in females)
Identification
Note white face with brownish to reddish mottling on edges, brown legs, diffuse turquoise stripe on upper sides back along wings. Eyes usually blue--fairly distinctive. Compare cerci of male if possible with illustrations in Singing Insects of North America.

Very similar to Blacklegged Meadow Katydid - Orchelimum nigripes. Singing Insects of North America Range maps (Black-legged, Handsome) show that the ranges do overlap in the eastern Pennsylvania/central eastern seaboard area.

Rehn, Trans. Am. Entomol. Soc. 41: 11-83 differentiate these two based on pronotal shape. Keying couplet for males is on pp. 24-25, quoting:

D. Tooth of cercus not strongly adpressed against proximal portaion of sinuate carina. Caudal margin of lateral lobes of pronotum with humeral sinus appreciably indicated and remainder of margin weakly arcuate. Tibiae not blackish.---> O. bullatum (Texas) or O. laticauda = pulchellum

D. Tooth of cercus strongly adpressed against proximal portion of sinuate carina. Caudal margin of lateral lobes of pronotum with little indication of humeral sinus and remainder of margin distinctly sinuate. All tibiae blackish. (Ventro-external margin of caudal femora armed.)---> O. nigripes

Also, in O. nigripes eyes of living insects are reddish rather than bluish.
Range
Southeastern United States. East and south of Appalachians; north as far as New York; west as far as Mississippi. Meets and intergrades with O. nigripes south of Appalachians (mostly in Mississippi and Alabama).

In NJ, DE, MD, DC, western VA, western NC, and most of SC, GA, AL & FL ending with the southwestern part of MS.(1)
Habitat
Brushy areas, shrubs, especially in wetland habitats bordering lakes, streams, etc.
Season
Mid-summer to fall. August-frost (North Carolina), June-November (north Florida)
See Also
Orchelimum nigripes - Black-legged Meadow Katydid (and see discussion at SINA)
Print References
Brimley, p. 20--syn. O. laticauda (2)
Deyrup, p. 38--close-up of face, presumably this species, though it is not identified even to genus (3)
Rehn JAG, Hebard M. 1915a. Studies in American Tettigoniidae. IV. A synopsis of the species of the genus Orchelimum. Trans. Am. Entomol. Soc. 41: 11-83. See reference page at SINA for a pdf version.
Internet References
SINA--Orchelimum pulchellum--range map, photos, etc.
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.Insects of North Carolina
C.S. Brimley. 1938. North Carolina Department of Agriculture.
3.Florida's Fabulous Insects
Mark Deyrup, Brian Kenney, Thomas C. Emmel. 2000. World Publications.