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Photo#955955
Scudderia furcata or fasciata? - Scudderia furcata - male

Scudderia furcata or fasciata? - Scudderia furcata - Male
Merrimack, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, USA
June 30, 2012
I raise stray katydids that show up on our herbs every year- last time, a male whose life cycle I posted turned out to be S. fasciata. Both species are known in my backyard. Over the course of the four years I've done this, I have learned that they prefer basil (leaves and flowers) as food, while also accepting spinach and petunia flowers. Just this year, I made a point of discovering which wild species they eat; so far they have accepted lambsquarters and red sorrel (but only when basil is unavailable), as well as their own shed exoskeletons. I'm behind on posting photos so these are a few years old- right now I have two, one is a third instar female and the other a second instar whose gender I haven't been able to determine yet.
I also raised a female with this male, photos of the adult are here. Hopefully this can help with the ID, if they are in fact the same species.

Images of this individual: tag all
Scudderia furcata or fasciata? - Scudderia furcata - male Scudderia furcata or fasciata? - Scudderia furcata - male Scudderia furcata or fasciata? - Scudderia furcata - male

Moved
Moved from Bush Katydids.

Moved

to me
This one, and the associated female, look like S. furcata. In theory, seeing more of the appendages at the tip of the male's abdomen (hidden by wings here), should make it easier to be absolutely certain. The two are very similar, and I've wondered if they are perhaps just variants of one species (with the dark type addapted to and favoring conifers). Probably they are different, but it is very hard sometimes to tell them apart. In females, the dark coloring on the wings and body, and the lighter colored ovipositor tend to help separate S. fasciata from S. furcata. I think S. furcata averages larger, but I'm not sure if that is a result of environment or of genetics or a combination of both).

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