| The genus Orchelimum
includes 21 meadow katydid species, all of them restricted to North
America.
Only 5 species are likely to be found in Arkansas. Orchelimum
vulgare frequents dry, weedy fields, gardens, and lawns. Orchelimum
sylvaticum
McNeill is an arboreal species. Orchelimum nigripes
Scudder, O. campestre
Blatchley, and O. carinatum Walker prefer wetlands, the
latter
perhaps restricted to habitats bordering the Mississippi River (Morris
and Walker 1976).
The common meadow katydid is univoltine. It passes the winter in the egg stage in plant tissue, and nymphs emerge in May and June. The nymphs feed readily on clover and other forage crops, but apparently adults feed mostly on aphids and other insects, with some plant material making up part of their diet. Adults begin to appear in late July, and eggs are laid in September and October (Forbes 1905, Metcalf and Colby 1930).
Females have been known to lay eggs in the stems of a number of plant species. Oviposition activity has been known to damage sorghum in Arkansas and raspberry canes in Illinois (Riley 1893, Metcalf and Colby 1930). References: Forbes, S. A. 1905. A monograph of insect injuries to Indian corn. Report of the State Entomologist of Illinois 23: 144-146. Morris, G. K. 1971. Aggression in male conocephaline grasshoppers (Tettigoniidae). Animal Behaviour 19: 132-137. Morris, G. K. 1972. Phonotaxis of male meadow grasshoppers (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae). Journal of the New York Entomological Society 80: 5-6. Morris, G. K., and T. J. Walker. 1976. Calling songs of Orchelimum meadow katydids (Tettigoniidae). I. Mechanism, terminology, and geographic distribution. Canadian Entomologist 108 (8): 785-800. Metcalf C. L., and A. S. Colby. 1930. The meadow grasshopper Orchelimum vulgare Harris, a new raspberry pest. Journal of Economic Entomology 23: 97-108. Riley, C. V. 1893. Notes from correspondents. Insect Life 5: 204. Links: |
Orchelimum
vulgare is widespread in eastern North America, occurring from
Maine
and southern Quebec west to North Dakota and southern Manitoba, and
south
to Georgia, Louisiana, and eastern Texas. It is the most common
meadow
katydid in Arkansas. Its color is variable and includes light
shades
of green and brown. A conspicuous brown stripe runs down the
midline
of the pronotum. The eyes are orange. Males are territorial
and tend not to leap away when disturbed. Rather, they move to
the
side of their perch that is opposite the source of disturbance.
An
ovipositing female embraces a plant stem with her prothoracic and
mesothoracic
legs and brings the curved and sword-like ovipositor far forward so its
tip can scrape the substrate. The female applies great pressure
while
swaying her body back and forth. The ovipositor slowly sinks into
the plant tissue and becomes buried to its base. Although it
enters
the twig at a right angle, it is directed backward as it sinks into the
tissue. An egg is then deposited and the ovipositor is
withdrawn.
The female turns around and splinters the surface of the twig over the
puncture with her mandibles. The ovipositor is then sunk through
the same puncture, but in the opposite direction, and another egg is
deposited.
The process of laying eggs alternately up and down the twig, with each
deposition followed by splintering of wood above the puncture, can
sometimes
continue until 10 or 12 eggs are laid around a single puncture, with 4
or 5 abreast on each side of the puncture (Metcalf and Colby 1930).
As
with other species of Orchelimum, the calling songs of the
common
meadow katydid are produced only by males. Males sing both day
and
night. The songs are apparently intended to attract females and
to
maintain local territory free of other males. Males will interact
aggressively with other males singing in their territory. Silent
intruders are ignored. The fighting takes the form of brief
venter-to-venter
grappling, and it usually ends with silent withdrawal of the
subordinate
male, while the victor sings from his perch (Morris 1971, 1972).
Sound is produced using stridulating structures on the bases of the
leathery
forewings, which are known as tegmina. During stridulation, the
tegmina
remain flexed over the abdomen, but they are alternately raised and
lowered.
As the tegmina are pulsed, the upturned rim of the scraper on the right
tegmen engages with a row of teeth on the file located on the lower
surface
of the left tegmen. The resulting vibration of the wing produces
the song. The song has a two-part structure with a series of trills or
buzzes interspersed with staccato ticks. Each tick is
double,
consisting of two distinct pulse trains (Morris and Walker 1976).