Pictures of an adult female brown morph Mediterranean katydid (Phaneroptera nana). Originated from eggs laid by captive reared wild-caught females of Summer 2016.

Our last Mediterranean katydid (Phaneroptera nana) molted to adult today and, as it was before, is a rare brown morph. In the pictures, it still wasn't not completely dried yet, so the antennae and legs are a bit pale. 

Just like with the Mexican bush katydids (Scudderia mexicana), we haven't been keeping up with these very well this year. We have been rearing the two species side by side so when we took the mexicana out to photograph, we also took these out. They are currently in sixth instar and very close to molting to adult. This mexicana have already been adults for several days but these hatched later (which is consistent with when and what age we usually find them in the wild). 

Although we have so few of them this year, we still managed to pull our luck with a brown morph. It looks like it's going to be mostly brown as an adult too. The only problem is that it has a broken hindleg. . . A green morph is also shown below.

Authors 
Brian Liang

We found an adult female Mediterranean katydid (Phaneroptera nana) in our front yard.

We haven't been going really crazy with katydids this year, although we are still rearing a handful that hatched from last year's eggs. I'm sure that if we had tried, we could have easily caught a ton of them. In fact, we have already encountered several katydids throughout this year that we didn't bother to catch. 

As the summer progresses, we are started to hear some katydid chirping. Today we even came across an adult female Mediterranean katydid (Phaneroptera nana) in our front yard on thistle. Not too common of a sight, even if the species is common. It stayed there for many hours without changing spots. Perhaps it was eating the flowers (because the leaves don't seem edible)? 

Our first Mediterranean katydid (Phaneroptera nana) hatched today. The egg was laid by captive females, Summer 2016.

Just as our Mexican bush katydid have been beginning to hatch, so too have our Mediterranean. We only had a few eggs saved from last year and we weren't sure if any were still alive, but out popped one today. It is extremely small, probably only about two-thirds the size of newborn Scudderia mexicana. It is yellowish green with a yellow head and blackish legs. We placed it in the same container as our mexicanas with some rose petals and plum leaves.

​Authors
Alan Liang

Rearing notes for the Mediterranean Katydid (Phaneroptera nana) that we found as a second instar on 7/26.

Rearing Notes 8/23/16-9/24/16:

- Brian

Today we discovered our first Mediterranean Katydid (Phaneroptera nana) eggs; also an update on our Mexican Bush Katydid (Scudderia mexicana) eggs.

Today while we were moving our Mediterranean Katydids (Phaneroptera nana) our of their enclosure, we discovered three eggs laid in the potted blue morning glory (Ipomoea acuminata) inside. A little sad that there were only three, actually, considering that there are over ten females in there and at least one of them gets mated every day for many weeks now (I'd imagine that every single one is fertile by now!). Like the related Phaneropterinae Mexican Bush Katydid (Scuderria mexicana), the eggs were inserted between the epidermal layers of the leaf. They are slightly smaller than the Mexican Bush Katydid eggs (shown side by side in the right image with the Mediterranean eggs on the right), proportional to the size of the ovipositer, which, in turn, is related to the significantly smaller body of the Mediterranean Katydid. 

As an update on our Mexican Bush Katydid eggs, we collected another 21 of them today, making a total of 101 eggs so far. And this is all by the work of four females at the most. If they all hatch next spring, we shall be swamped!

- Brian

Rearing Notes 8/11-8/18:

8/14-15:​​   Nothing significant worth noting.

- Brian

Stats:
Encounters this year: 81+
Locations:

• Ohlone Greenway at Lincoln Ave., El Cerrito, CA (54+)
• Albany Middle School, Albany, CA (17)
• Residential home, Berkeley, CA (10)  
• Home, Albany, CA (1)                                    

Host plants:

• ​Blackberry Rubus ursinus or Passionflower Passiflora (54+)
• Purple Morning Glory Ipomoea purpurea (15)
• Grape Vitis vinifera (10)​
• Sweet Fennel Foeniculum vulgare (1)​
• Wild Mallow Malva (1)
• Apple Malus domestica (1)

Months:

• May (6)
  • L1 nymphs (2)
  • L3-L4 nymphs (4)
• June (53+)
  • L1 nymphs (1)
  • L2-L3 nymphs (2)
  • L4-L5 nymphs (50+)
• July (21)
  • L2 nymphs (1)
  • L4 nymphs (5)
  • L5 nymphs (5)
  • L6 nymphs (12)

Adult Molt Log:
7/10 (overnight): male caught in sixth instar attempted but was killed
7/15 (overnight): two males but one suffers severe injuries of mild cannibalism and the other mismolted
7/16 (overnight): two females; one mismolted and has wings that dried in the wrong position
7/17 (overnight): one male and one female
7/18 (overnight): one male mismolted and is dead
7/19 (overnight): one female 
7/20 (overnight): two males
7/21 (overnight): one male and one female
7/22 (overnight): one male
7/23 (overnight): one brown morph female 
7/24 (overnight): four females; two mismolted and have wings that dried in the wrong position; one of them also has a bent hind leg and antenna
7/25 (overnight): two males
7/26 (overnight): two males
7/27 (overnight): one male
7/28 (overnight): one male
7/29 (overnight): one female
7/31 (overnight): one brown morph male
8/1 (overnight): one male and one female; the female mismolted and has crippled wings
8/2 (overnight): one female

​Today, just as we had seen a few days ago with the Mexican Bush Katydids (Scuderria mexicana), one of our adult female Mediterranean Katydid (Phaneroptera nana) was carrying a nice spermatophoryx on its genitalia when we checked this morning!

- Brian