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Photo#481247
Unidentified orthoptera nymph - Scudderia mexicana

Unidentified orthoptera nymph - Scudderia mexicana
San Diego, San Diego County, California, USA
April 13, 2010
Size: ~2 cm (minus antennae)
Found springtime on lupine. Tree cricket?

Images of this individual: tag all
Unidentified orthoptera nymph - Scudderia mexicana Unidentified orthoptera nymph - Scudderia mexicana

Moved
Moved from Nymphs.

Moved

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comment was duplicated and removed here

best guess
based on appearance and location is that it is Scudderia mexicana. I'm not sure if S. furcata is in San Diego (nor how to tell them apart - some think they are one species). Also, Insara nymphs this small may look very similar(?), but I doubt one would turn up in San Diego (???)

 
Thanks
for the suggestions!

Moved
Moved from ID Request.

Scudderia on Lupines
Hi Sonia, I saw your ID request, and it inspired me, and helped me, to post the photos I had taken of similar insects on lupines here in Maryland. If you are interested, the photo numbers are 481477-481478, 481486-481489, 481490, 481492, 481495. I'd love to hear if you learn anything more about your young katydids and their interactions with the lupines, so I subscribed to your post.

One morphological difference is that the ones I photographed have little red balls on their feet. I don't see that on your specimens. The coloration is also a bit different, but I have noticed by browsing through photos on bugguide that katydids can be rather variable in color.

By the way, I read elsewhere that the way you can tell these are katydids is the very long antennae.

Thanks!

 
katydids on lupines
Very interesting photos, Sara. We've gathered the seeds from this summer's lupines and will see if there are more katydids on them in the spring. I didn't see any on the flowers, which held up pretty well all season long. The lupines are Arroyo Lupines (lupinus succulentus), quite common in these parts:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lupinus_succulentus

Assuming
that these are two shots of the same individual, I took the liberty of linking them. If these are two different insects, let me know and I'll unlink the shots.

 
same individual!
Yes, it's the same fellow...or gal. Thanks!

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