MYSTERY SOLVED!
Tuesday, August 2nd, 2022 05:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
snoozefestaudioI went digging around online today and FINALLY managed to figure out what my leaf tappers, and chick bugs really are! And both of them are species of kaytdids!
Say Hello to the leaf tapper!..
This is the Greater Anglewing Katydid (Microcentrum rhombifolium). A leaf-mimmicking, tree dwelling katydid who's mating call is a series of tap- tap- tappity-taps, made by clicking it's wings together.
And now, say hello to the chick bug!..
This is the Forktailed Bush Katydid (Scudderia furcata). Another tree-dwelling (despite the name) katydid, who's call is a single, "Tsip!" which it sounds out every five to ten seconds.
------------{=0=}------------
I've written before about how difficult it's been to try and google these bugs, knowing nothing but their sounds! Leaf tapper, and chick bug, were my own terms and growing up, I never heard anybody refer to them by any name at all!
I also wrote how I'd dug up one youtube video of a katydid sitting on a parked car, with the tapping sound in the background, but it wasn't evident that the bug on the screen was actually making the sound.
Still, the more I've been thinking about it, the more sense it made that the leaf tappers probably were orthopterans, and most likely some species of katydid, so today I googled, "katydid tapping" and managed to turn up an obscure YouTube video from 2013 by a guy named Terrell Handy, embeded below...
Terrell was just as curious as I've been about what damn bug makes the clicking sound, and when fortune finally showed him one, he was ready with his camera! And thanks to his determination here, to get it on camera making the sound with it's wings, there was no doubt, this was my leaf tapper.
And there was also no doubt it was a katydid!
That same search turned up four other amateaur YouTube videos that further corroborated that this was the bug, but Terrell's was the most definitive. The whole list is below...
Terrell handy 2013
3dplanet100 2018
96Dubz 2014
Tekknosk8er 2018
Ddillingworth 2012
The last one on that list is very quiet, but his title says it's a, "Greater Katydid."
So I googled that, and turned up, "Greater Anglewing Katydid" and found this page on Songsofinsects.Com, which pairs it up with a recording of it's song, which again, is that tappity-tapping I know and love!
Songsofinsects.Com's main page explains the terminology to refer to different types of orthopteran calls, and one of those terms was, "Tsip!"
And that made me think my chick bug might also be a katydid, so I googled, "katydid tsip," and it lead me to a page describing the call of the Fork Tailed Bush Katydid as a periodic tsip.
So, I googled, Forktailed Bush Katydid, which brought me back to this page, on Songsofinsects.Com again, which confirmed beyond doubt that yes, the Fork Tailed Bush Katydid was indeed, my chick bug!
------------{=0=}------------
I can't tell you what a thrill it was to finally figure this out!.. both of them!.. right before the new recording season begins! So this means in my track descriptions for Snoozefest 2022, I'll be able to accurately refer to not just my three types of crickets, but my percussionists too!
Still, what's my new nicknames for them gonna be? Cuz I'm not writing out, "Greater Anglewing Katydid," and, "Fork Tailed Bush Katydid," every single time!
I think leaf tappers should henceforth be called wing-tappers.
And chick bugs?... Hrmmmmm.... chik-dids? check-dids? Kate-checks? I like Kate-checks, but everybody's gonna pronouce that Kaychex, so... proper spelling... Kaycheck. Plural, Kaychecks.
--<>--
Okay!.. so that's our team!
The BYJ Bugsby Orchestra: Field Crickets on lead, mole crickets on bass, bush crickets on chorus, wing-tappers on drums, and kaychecks doing percussion.
°¦}
https://soundcloud.com/snoozefestaudio
Say Hello to the leaf tapper!..
This is the Greater Anglewing Katydid (Microcentrum rhombifolium). A leaf-mimmicking, tree dwelling katydid who's mating call is a series of tap- tap- tappity-taps, made by clicking it's wings together.
And now, say hello to the chick bug!..
This is the Forktailed Bush Katydid (Scudderia furcata). Another tree-dwelling (despite the name) katydid, who's call is a single, "Tsip!" which it sounds out every five to ten seconds.
I've written before about how difficult it's been to try and google these bugs, knowing nothing but their sounds! Leaf tapper, and chick bug, were my own terms and growing up, I never heard anybody refer to them by any name at all!
I also wrote how I'd dug up one youtube video of a katydid sitting on a parked car, with the tapping sound in the background, but it wasn't evident that the bug on the screen was actually making the sound.
Still, the more I've been thinking about it, the more sense it made that the leaf tappers probably were orthopterans, and most likely some species of katydid, so today I googled, "katydid tapping" and managed to turn up an obscure YouTube video from 2013 by a guy named Terrell Handy, embeded below...
Terrell was just as curious as I've been about what damn bug makes the clicking sound, and when fortune finally showed him one, he was ready with his camera! And thanks to his determination here, to get it on camera making the sound with it's wings, there was no doubt, this was my leaf tapper.
And there was also no doubt it was a katydid!
That same search turned up four other amateaur YouTube videos that further corroborated that this was the bug, but Terrell's was the most definitive. The whole list is below...
Terrell handy 2013
3dplanet100 2018
96Dubz 2014
Tekknosk8er 2018
Ddillingworth 2012
The last one on that list is very quiet, but his title says it's a, "Greater Katydid."
So I googled that, and turned up, "Greater Anglewing Katydid" and found this page on Songsofinsects.Com, which pairs it up with a recording of it's song, which again, is that tappity-tapping I know and love!
Songsofinsects.Com's main page explains the terminology to refer to different types of orthopteran calls, and one of those terms was, "Tsip!"
And that made me think my chick bug might also be a katydid, so I googled, "katydid tsip," and it lead me to a page describing the call of the Fork Tailed Bush Katydid as a periodic tsip.
So, I googled, Forktailed Bush Katydid, which brought me back to this page, on Songsofinsects.Com again, which confirmed beyond doubt that yes, the Fork Tailed Bush Katydid was indeed, my chick bug!
I can't tell you what a thrill it was to finally figure this out!.. both of them!.. right before the new recording season begins! So this means in my track descriptions for Snoozefest 2022, I'll be able to accurately refer to not just my three types of crickets, but my percussionists too!
Still, what's my new nicknames for them gonna be? Cuz I'm not writing out, "Greater Anglewing Katydid," and, "Fork Tailed Bush Katydid," every single time!
I think leaf tappers should henceforth be called wing-tappers.
And chick bugs?... Hrmmmmm.... chik-dids? check-dids? Kate-checks? I like Kate-checks, but everybody's gonna pronouce that Kaychex, so... proper spelling... Kaycheck. Plural, Kaychecks.
Okay!.. so that's our team!
The BYJ Bugsby Orchestra: Field Crickets on lead, mole crickets on bass, bush crickets on chorus, wing-tappers on drums, and kaychecks doing percussion.
°¦}
