So that’s a female by the sickle shape ovipositor??
It’s essentially a cricket
Nice picture.
Funny there’s a serrated edge on that sickle thing as if it was designed as a saw, LOL.
I wonder whether its sharpness is to grip a twig for laying its seeds, which they also in a double row on twigs!
Asher
Ovipositor used by the female to insert eggs into various places. I think ? Over 6,400 katydid species are recognized, eating mostly leaves, flowers, bark, and seeds, but many species are exclusively predatory, feeding on other insects, snails and even small vertebrates such as snakes and lizards.
Males call to attract females. There is a lot of competition between males, and females try to select healthier males, judging their fitness by the sound of their trill (louder and more fluent is better). When the insects mate, the male passes a sperm packet (spermatophore) to the female. The males increase their chance of reproductive success by providing additional protein (a spermatophylax, which may require as much as 40% of his body weight to produce) attached to the spermatophore for the female to eat to help her develop her eggs. In species that produce large food gifts, the female is the one that seeks a mate. Males that produce large food gifts mate one or two times in their lifetime, while males that produce smaller gifts can mate more times, but are less likely to be selected by females.
– Susan Mahr, University of Wisconsin – Madison
