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Raising Scudderia furcata (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae) from Egg to Adult

Scudderia furcata (Brunner von Wattenwyl, 1878)



Scudderia furcata are a common and well-researched species, so I will just add a few personal observations here.

In my area, this species is easy to find. The katydids are often encountered on flowers and in trees, bushes, grassy meadows, and gardens.

Since this is a commonly reared katydid, I will limit my discussion to a description of my own experience, including 1) Housing and Care, 2) Life Cycle, 3) Laying Eggs, and 4) Song.


Housing and Care

As with other katydids I raise, I house S. furcata in large butterfly cages, measuring 36"x 24"x 24". I add a variety of native plants in 4-inch pots and a collection of common katydid foods.

A couple of cage types:


Supplemental foods include organic Romaine lettuce, organic apple slices, rolled oats, cricket powder, pecan/walnut/almond slices, nectar sponges, and fresh water. I often see Scudderia furcata on all of these foods.

Here are S. furcata eating lettuce:


S. furcata with Largus succinctus eating pecan and S. furcata eating apple:


S. furcata on butterfly sponge:


Here are S. furcata munching on oats and cricket powder:


In addition to the provided foods, Scudderia furcata are also perfectly content to munch on my fingers:



VIDEOS:

Here is a cute VIDEO of S. furcata munching oats.

VIDEO of S. furcata eating lettuce.

Here's a female munching on lettuce with a very curious nymph onlooker:VIDEO of adult female eating lettuce.

Here's more lettuce munching: VIDEO of S. furcata eating lettuce.

Here's a very senior citizen, an adult female, munching lettuce: VIDEO close-up of senior female eating lettuce.

VIDEO of S. furcata eating cricket powder.



Life Cycle

(Hemimetabolism - incomplete metamorphosis: Egg » Nymph » Adult)

EGG

Scudderia furcata eggs are cream-coloued, flattened, and oval-shaped, measuring 4.5 mm.


NYMPH

Scudderia furcata have been documented to go through seven instars (Walker, 2006). I am including a few photographs of early and late instars.

Newly-hatched nymphs are brownish and then turn green later on.

Just-born baby:


Early-instar nymphs and young nymph with adult:


Middle-instar nymph, and middle instar with adult:


Late-instar nymph female:


Final-instar nymph male and final-instar nymph female:


Final-instar male and close-up of dorsal process (supra-anal plate): See SINA site comparison.


Teneral adult female:


Adult females:


Senior citizen male, also showing subgenital plate:


Scudderia furcata appear to be bivoltine in my area. I have had a second (but smaller) generation of nymphs hatch in the fall. Those who hatch late usually overwinter as nymphs and mature in spring. As an example of one case that I reared, a late-season nymph hatched on 12.04.2020 and moulted to full adult 03.28.2021. She died 08.04.2021.

Moulting

As with other insects, the most dangerous times for growing Scudderia furcata are moulting periods. With a successful moult, the nymph or new adult almost always eats the exuvia.
Nymph moulting:


Here's a nymph working his way out of the exuvia:
VIDEO of moulting nymph part 1

and freeing his hind legs:
VIDEO of moulting nymph part 2.

Here's a freshly moulted adult female eating the exuvia:


In one case, I picked up a final-instar nymph in the field, and she moulted in the container before I could get her to her new habitat.



I did observe a few failed moults among Scudderia furcata, which generally result in death.
Failed moult to adult (male):




Laying Eggs

Most online resources report that Scudderia furcata lay eggs in leaves. In captivity, my Scudderia furcata lay eggs most frequently in the newspaper in the bottom of the cage as well as in leaves, plant stems, and soil.

Laying Eggs in Plants

I've observed Scudderia furcata laying eggs on both leaves and stems of plants.
Female laying eggs in a leaf:


Here the female lays her egg in the stem of a plant (Salvia madrensis): VIDEO of female laying egg in plant stem.

Here the female lays an egg inside a leaf of lettuce:VIDEO of female laying egg in lettuce.


Here the female grooms her ovipositor after laying eggs in leaves: VIDEO of female grooming ovipositor.


Laying Eggs in Soil

It is much less common for Scudderia furcata to lay eggs in soil, but I did observe it on occasion.



Laying Eggs in Newspaper

Both my Scudderia furcata and Scudderia curvicauda regularly laid eggs in the newspaper in the bottom of the cage. The female chews a starter hole and then inserts her ovipositor into a single layer of newspaper.

Here the female is laying eggs inside a single layer of newspaper. The red arrows in the first image point to the egg already released. (The little red guy is a first-instar Largus succinctus looking on.)


Here the female chews the initial hole and then inserts her ovipositor to release the egg:


Here are more images of a female laying eggs in newspaper with the fourth image showing the egg just laid:


VIDEOS

This video shows the process of a Scudderia furcata laying an egg in newspaper. At 2:17, you can see the actual release of the egg from her ovipositor.
VIDEO of S. furcata laying egg in newspaper.

VIDEO of female laying eggs in newspaper.

close-up VIDEO of female laying eggs in newspaper.

VIDEO of female laying eggs in newspaper.

VIDEO of female laying eggs in newspaper.




Song

The SINA site provides a couple of clips of the S. furcata song, described as a "pulsed song" or "lisps" (Singing Insects of North America).

From what I observed, singing was infrequent and occurred at random times during the day or evening. I was able to record a few examples of male song as shown in the clips below.

Here are a few male chirps: VIDEO of S. furcata chirps.

And a few more: VIDEO of male song.

Here's a wee bit of male fussing at his colleague: VIDEO of male fuss.


Tympana

To hear those songs, katydids have tympana on their forelegs (Neal, 2011), which are easily identifiable on Scudderia furcata:




And, just for fun, here's a bit of light erythism or "pinkmentation" as I will call it:



References

Singing Insects of North America. (2006, November 30). Fork-tailed Bush Katydid (scudderia furcata) Developmental Stages. https://orthsoc.org/sina/063dev.htm

Singing Insects of North America. (2023). Fork-tailed Bush Katydid (scudderia furcata) Brunner 1878. https://orthsoc.org/sina/063a.htm


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