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Raising Amblycorypha huasteca (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae) from Egg to Adult



Amblycorypha huasteca: Tettigoniidae » Phaneropterinae » Amblycorypha oblongifolia Group

Amblycorypha (Tettigoniidae » Phaneropterinae) are quite beautiful and interesting katydids with a variety of species occurring in the United States. I didn't specifically study these guys, but rather I incidentally encountered and raised a couple of Amblycorypha species through an F1 generation. I will report briefly on my experience in caring for collected adults and overwintering the eggs to raise an F1 generation.

This article contains the following sections: 1) Finding the katydids, 2) Housing and Care, 3) Life Cycle and F2 Update, 3) Song, 4) Mating and Spermatophylax, 5) Laying Eggs, 6) Observations, and 7) Resources.



Finding Amblycorypha huasteca

I was able to find just a few Amblycorypha huasteca around central Texas in grassy meadows. They are sometimes atop flowers but more often hidden in the grass. I tended to find them a two to three hours after sunrise in the mornings.

Sample habitat for Amblycorypha huasteca - grassy meadow with wildflowers:


I used 4"x4" clear plastic containers to gently catch the katydids without harming them. Sometimes they fly away, but they rarely fly very far. I picked up my initial collection of 8 adults in June and July of 2021 and cared for them. I overwintered their eggs and got a very large number of F1-generation offspring, most of which I released into the garden once they got to final instar or adult. I kept about 24 of my F1 adults.



Housing and Care of Amblycorypha huasteca


HOUSING

For housing Amblycorpyha huasteca, I use large butterfly cages, 36 inches tall by 24 inches wide. These large katydids require large enclosures. I include a variety of native plants in 4-inch pots as well as dishes of soil for the females to lay eggs in.

Sample cages used for rearing Amblycorypha:


FOOD

Of all of the insect species I have raised, Amblycorypha huasteca win the prize for putting away the largest amount of food. With all of my insect habitats, I change out and add fresh fruits and vegetables each morning, but with the Amblycorypha huasteca it was sometimes necessary to replenish the "salad" dishes twice a day.

Here's some initial food:


And here are the leftover lettuce bones!


For Amblycorypha huasteca, I provided supplemental foods (in addition to their plants) including organic Romaine lettuce, organic apple slices, rolled oats, cricket powder, pecan/walnut/almond slices, nectar sponges, and fresh water. The A. huasteca were most interested in lettuce, apple, cricket powder, and nectar from the sponges.

This is an adult female eating apple:


This is an adult female and a young nymph munching on lettuce:


Here's an extra cute VIDEO of an Amblycorypha huasteca female chewing on a leaf stem.

Here's a VIDEO of an Amblycorypha huasteca munching on apple.

Here's a VIDEO of an Amblycorypha huasteca munching on lettuce.

Here is a VIDEO of an Amblycorypha huasteca female final-instar nymph eating something mysterious. (What O what is she eating??)



Life Cycle (Incomplete Metamorphosis) and Update for F2 Generation


EGG

Eggs are brown, flattened, and oval-shaped, measuring 5.5 to 6 millimetres. Note the exquisite design of the eggs:




NYMPH

My F1 generation from overwintered eggs began hatching on April 10, 2022, and continued hatching through May 19, peaking in late April. Then, oddly, I had three late-season babies born June 21-23, 2022.

I do not know how many instars these guys go through, but I would guess between five and seven.

As with other katydids, the most common cause of death for nymphs is a failed moult. I saw this several times among my Amblycorypha huasteca, but overall they had a good survival rate.

Here are some just-born babies:


This little fellow is enjoying a first meal:


These first-instar nymphs are having breakfast:


Here are two young nymphs practising their climbing skills:


This slightly older nymph is munching on lettuce:


Here's a freshly moulted nymph with exuvia:


This is a late-instar male:


And here are two late-instar females, younger and older:


Final-instar nymph female:


Amblycorypha huasteca exuvia:



ADULT

It took my Amblycorypha huasteca seven weeks from hatching to moult into full adults.
Adult male and adult female:


After moulting to adult, these guys generally lived for two to five months as full adults, most often around four months.


UPDATE for MY F2 NYMPHS, 2023

After maintaining the soil substrate dishes for my 2022 Amblycorypha huasteca alongside the substrate dishes from 2021, I was delighted to get an F2 generation. My first born nymph hatched quite early on March 12, 2023. My F2 nymphs continued to hatch, becoming more sporadic, as late as June 25, 2023. My first full adults (two males) moulted on June 25, 2023.

This is a poor-quality VIDEO showing my first newly hatched nymph still on the soil substrate.



Song

From what I observed, it seems that my Amblycorypha huasteca have two types of songs, a series of short trills or "telephone rings" and clicks.


Telephone Rings:

Here is a VIDEO of a song with short trills.

And this VIDEO is the "telephone ring" sound.

Here's another VIDEO of the short trills.

Clicks:

Here is a VIDEO of short clicks.



Mating

Females are lured into mating position (more on this in a separate article) and the males deliver a surprisingly large spermatophylax.


Female with spermatophylax and male after mating:


Based on copulatory position and cercal morphology, I would guess that the cerci play no direct role in mating.
Amblycorypha huasteca adult male cerci:


These guys are very discreet in their mating. While I rarely saw mating, I very often saw the presence of spermatophylaces on the females. From what I observed, my initial set of collected females were wearing spermatophylaces almost every day.
Female carrying spermatophylax:


Close-ups of spermatophylax attached to female:



Discarding Spermatophylaces:

One of the strangest behaviours I have seen among katydids is in Amblycorypha huasteca and one other species (separate article) discarding the spermatophylax. That is, they knock off most or usually all of the spermatophylax and abandon it. Considering how terribly expensive it is for males to produce spermatophylaces (Simmons et al., 1992), one must ponder if it is not downright discourteous for a lady to toss her gifts of fine diamonds into the trash. Because of the quantity of spermatophylaces that I found, both attached to females and even more so discarded in the bottom of the cage, I have to guess that the actual quality of Amblycorypha huasteca spermatophylax investment might be relatively low.

Discarded spermatophylax: (note the intricacy!)




Laying Eggs

A female lays eggs in soil by curling forward and inserting her long ovipositor deep into the soil and releasing eggs.
For rearing purposes, I provide dishes of soil substrate, about 2 inches deep. Even so, on several occasions, my Amblycorypha huasteca laid eggs directly into their dishes of cricket powder or into their dishes of oats. I became accustomed to using a strainer to separate the eggs, clean them as best as I could, and place them into the soil as Mom should have done in the first place. (Perhaps they were unfertilised eggs simply being discarded by the ladies?)

Here are examples of a female Ambycorypha huasteca laying eggs:


Here is a VIDEO of a female laying eggs in soil with background singers.

Here's another VIDEO of a female laying eggs.

This is a long VIDEO of a female laying eggs with background singers.

This is a VIDEO of a female laying eggs in a potted plant, with background singers.



Observations

Foodies:

These guys are not shy about eating and eating a lot. It's a joy to feed them because you get the pleasure of watching them lavishly enjoy their foods. The older they get, the less shy they are about eating in front of the human's camera. And the way they eat lettuce and leave the "bones" is downright cute.


Walk Like an Egyptian:

Members of the Amblycorypha genus frequently engage in a rocking motion, either side-to-side or back and forth. Adults often saunter slowly toward a new location while rocking back and forth until they arrive at their destination.
Here's a VIDEO of a very young nymph practising the signature rocking motion that she will display proudly as a grown-up.


Be Fruitful and Multiply:

My experience in raising an F1 generation from egg is that this species can be quite prolific in captivity. I simply overwintered the eggs by keeping their soil dishes and potted plants in fairly natural conditions with light misting. Since I wasn't intentionally trying to raise these guys, I was actually quite surprised when they appeared in abundance in the spring while a couple of other species that I was trying to raise did not hatch at all. These guys were so bountiful that I ended up releasing way more than I kept in order to avoid overcrowding.

Overall, I think this is a suitable and exciting species for someone new to rearing to try out.





A Few Resources

Gwynne, D. T. (1986, September). Courtship feeding in katydids (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae): Investment in offspring or in obtaining fertilizations? The American Naturalist. https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/284566

Lehmann, G. U. C. (2012, August 15). Weighing costs and benefits of mating in bushcrickets (Insecta: Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae), with an emphasis on nuptial gifts, protandry and mate density - frontiers in zoology. Frontiers in Zoology. https://frontiersinzoology.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1742-9994-9-19

Lewis, S., & South, A. (2012, June 7). The evolution of animal nuptial gifts. Advances in the Study of Behavior. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/B9780123942883000022

Simmons, L. W. (1995, August 1). Courtship feeding in katydids (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae): Investment in offspring and in obtaining fertilizations: The American naturalist: Vol 146, no 2. The American Naturalist. https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/285801?journalCode=an

ter Hofstede, H. M., & Fullard, J. H. (2008, August 1). The neuroethology of song cessation in response to gleaning bat calls in two species of katydids, Neoconocephalus Ensiger and Amblycorypha oblongifolia. Journal of Experimental Biology. https://journals.biologists.com/jeb/article/211/15/2431/17511/The-neuroethology-of-song-cessation-in-response-to




References

Simmons, L. W., Teale, R. J., Maier, M., Standish, R. J., Bailey, W. J., & Withers, P. C. (1992, July). Some costs of reproduction for male bushcrickets, requena verticalis (Orthoptera : Tettigoniidae) allocating resources to mate attraction and nuptial feeding - behavioral ecology and sociobiology. SpringerLink. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/BF00167816


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