frustration with shield-backed katydids
what is this? apologies for poor quality/repetition; the color's accurate, size around 75 mm. found near dusk in a field in west jordan, utah. it's definitely a shield-backed katydid, but isn't in any of the online id sites that we've seen (as well as helfer's how to know the grasshoppers, crickets, cockroaches and their allies). full-grown fairly docile male. (not a mormon cricket by the way, not even here.) http://www.alansondheim.org/sbkatydid1.jpg http://www.alansondheim.org/sbkatydid2.jpg http://www.alansondheim.org/sbkatydid3.jpg http://www.alansondheim.org/sbkatydid4.jpg (in west jordan, development is rampant, filling the valley. almost all the birds have disappeared, including merlin and even starlings. we've seen a few killdeer and robins, that's all. the bits of grassland left are repeatedly tilled. the order of the day is green lawns and home owners' associations - wasteland for the local flora and fauna. there's only one park, heavily disturbed, in the area - no foxes, rabbits, and so forth, which were present a few years ago. still, there are mantids, beetles, wasps, and at least two bee species left in the grassland. development continues to render the west close to uninhabitable; the human communities are sterile, water-hungry, and plastic. the result is the butchering and disappearance of local ecosystems, which, in the valley, might have been unique.) _______________________________________________ NetBehaviour mailing list NetBehaviour@netbehaviour.org http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour
