A Guide to the Katydids of Australia PDF
Preview A Guide to the Katydids of Australia
A GUIDE TO THE KATYDIDS OF AUSTRALIA 1 2 A GUIDE TO THE KATYDIDS OF AUSTRALIA DAVID RENTZ 3 © David Rentz 2010 All rights reserved. Except under the conditions described in the Australian Copyright Act 1968 and subsequent amendments, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, duplicating or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. Contact CSIRO PUBLISHING for all permission requests. National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Rentz, David C. A guide to the katydids of Australia / David Rentz. 9780643095540 (pbk.) Includes index. Bibliography. Katydids – Australia. Tettigoniidae – Australia. 595.7260994 Published by CSIRO PUBLISHING 150 Oxford Street (PO Box 1139) Collingwood VIC 3066 Australia Telephone: +61 3 9662 7666 Local call: 1300 788 000 (Australia only) Fax: +61 3 9662 7555 Email: [email protected] Web site: www.publish.csiro.au Front cover image: A rare pink morph of the Serrated Bush Katydid, Paracaedicia serrata. Photo by Jack Hasenpusch. Set in Minion 9.5/12 Cover and text design by James Kelly Typeset by Oryx Publishing Pty Ltd Printed in China by 1010 Printing International Ltd The paper this book is printed on is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) © 1996 FSC A.C. The FSC promotes environmentally responsible, socially beneficial and economically viable management of the world’s forests. CSIRO PUBLISHING publishes and distributes scientific, technical and health science books, magazines and journals from Australia to a worldwide audience and conducts these activities autonomously from the research activities of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO). The views expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily represent those of, and should not be attributed to, the publisher or CSIRO. 4 Contents Preface Acknowledgements Introduction Biology Sound and hearing Collecting and studying katydids Habitats Conservation Guide to species Listroscelidinae Hexacentrinae Tympanophorinae Austrosaginae Conocephalinae Microtettigoniinae Meconematinae Tettigoniinae Pseudophyllinae Phyllophorinae Mecopodinae Phaneropterinae Zaprochilinae Phasmodinae Key to subfamilies of Australian katydids 5 List of the Tettigoniidae (katydids) of Australia Glossary References Appendix 1: Keeping katydids alive and preservation of specimens Appendix 2: Special interest groups and entomological supplies Index 6 This illustration of the ‘Great Green Gumleaf Grasshopper’ comes from McCoy’s Natural History of Victoria (1886). However, it is not a grasshopper at all but a katydid. Subsequent research has revealed the scientific name McCoy used was a synonym of Terpandrus horridus, a species found in the Sydney region. The species illustrated here is most likely Terpandrus endota. Source: Museum of Victoria 7 8 Preface Welcome to the world of Australian katydids. These insects occur almost everywhere across the country from the highest mountains to the seashore, and on continental and oceanic islands. The loud calls of some katydids are often mistaken for the sounds of cicadas. With a little practice you will be able to distinguish one from the other without even seeing the singers! Katydids range in size from tiny species, 5 mm or so in length, to monsters that approach 130 mm. Many are secretive and have to be searched out in order to see them. At times, however, normally common species can be extremely abundant and cause public concern. We see this phenomenon in many Australian insects and in many grasshoppers. Some species can be agricultural pests and a number can cause problems to horticulturists because of their propensity to feed on developing flowers. This book is primarily an identification manual to be used in the manner that you might use a bird guide. As a result, information on the many other aspects of katydids is scant. The book by Daryl Gwynne, Katydids and Bush-crickets: Reproductive Behavior and Evolution of the Tettigoniidae, published in 2001, provides many details and references to the vast literature available on this subject. Naskrecki and Otte (1999) estimated that there are more than 6000 described species of katydids and that their diversity within the Orthoptera was second only to the grasshoppers which comprise some 12 000 species. There has been a trend in recent years to escalate subfamilies and tribes to family status. This has been accepted to some degree but a more conservative approach has been followed in the Orthoptera Species File (OSF). This catalogue is kept current and its scheme is what is followed in this book. Any serious student of Orthoptera taxonomy should become familiar with the OSF, a most useful tool. Currently 19 subfamilies are listed in the OSF. These form major, easily recognised groups of a few to many species. Of the 19 subfamilies five, the Saginae, Acridoxiinae, Bradyporinae, Hetrodinae and Lipotactinae do not occur in Australia. Five subfamilies are endemic to Australia. They are the Microtettigoniinae, Phasmodinae, Zaprochilinae, Austrosaginae and 9
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