The first of our few interesting brown morph Mediterranean Katydids (Phaneroptera nana) has made it to adult and is still maintains a mostly brown appearance. In a post we made about color variation in Mediterranean Katydids (Phaneroptera nana) and Mexican Bush Katydids (Scudderia mexicana) from a while ago on 6/28, we were hoping that some of our brown morph Mediterraneans would stay brown all the way until adult just for their uniquness. In our experience, the brown morph is relatively uncommon in this species with probably only 10% or so of all encounters having this form (sample size of 80+ this year) with the rest being varying shades of green. In the past we had noted that the brown morphs consistently eventually started turning green with each successive adult and were full green by adulthood in the Mexican Bush Katydids so we were wondering whether the same would be true in the Mediterraneans. As of now, it does seem true but also not necessarily. We still have a handful (4-5) brown morph Mediterranean nymphs that have stayed exactly just as brown every instar since we caught them (absolutely no sign of turning green), though they range in shade greatly (some are a very dark brown, some are pinkish, and some are a golden brown). But today, a golden brown sixth instar finally molted into adult and is still golden brown but quite bit lighter then before -- almost yellow with a tinge of green. It is clear that, given a few more molts, it probably would have eventually turned green. Yesterday when it was about to molt, its wing buds were so swollen and thick that you could almost see the new wings bundled up inside them and they were tipped with a distinctive green pigment. Of course when it actually did molt today and fully expanded out the wings, the green became much diluted as seen in the image. We are guessing that it decided to take the green route this final instar, perhaps because we moved it into the new enclosure then with the Blue Morning Glory vine (Ipomoea acuminata). We have noticed when we have encountered katydids in the wild, they often match their food plant quite well, suggesting that the substrate color does influence the color of the katydid to some extent. For example, one of the pinkish brown katydids we found was on a dying grape leaf (Vitis) that was a very similar pinkish brown and a yellowish Mexican Bush Katydid (overall still green though) with thick pink bands was found on a passionflower (Passiflora) flower which was pink and yellow. When we put this golden brown katydid back into the enclosure, it crawled on a morning glory flower bud that had a strikingly similar golden brown color with a tinge of green. - Brian
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Timeline 2012–2017
Albany, California This timeline is a series of daily posts recording our observations on and experiences with various insects in Albany California and surrounding areas, from 2012-2017. Since we did not publish this site until 2016, posts before that were constructed retroactively. Starting in August 2017, we moved to Ithaca, New York; posts from there on can be viewed at Timeline 2017-present: Ithaca, New York. Archives (1,011)
August 2017 (49) July 2017 (121) June 2017 (79) May 2017 (77) April 2017 (91) March 2017 (35) February 2017 (12) January 2017 (10) December 2016 (12) November 2016 (26) October 2016 (49) September 2016 (84) August 2016 (94) July 2016 (99) June 2016 (53) May 2016 (21) April 2016 (4) January 2016 (1) August 2015 (3) July 2015 (3) June 2015 (2) June 2014 (3) May 2014 (1) April 2014 (3) March 2014 (3) December 2013 (2) November 2013 (2) October 2013 (5) September 2013 (11) August 2013 (15) July 2013 (9) June 2013 (5) May 2013 (4) April 2013 (3) March 2013 (2) February 2013 (3) January 2013 (2) December 2012 (2) November 2012 (1) October 2012 (2) September 2012 (2) August 2012 (5) July 2012 (1) June 2012 (1) Authors
![]() ![]() Full Species List (Alphabetical by scientific name) Note: - Not every species we encounter is necessarily presented on this site, rather a selection of those that were of particular interest to us and that we felt were worth documenting. - We can't guarantee that all species have been identified accurately, particularly taxa we are not as familiar with. Lepidoptera Actias luna Adelpha californica Agraulis vanillae Allancastria cerisyi Antheraea mylitta Antheraea polyphemus Anthocharis sara Argema mimosae Attacus atlas Battus philenor hirsuta Bombyx mori Caligo atreus Callosamia promethea Coenonympha tullia california Citheronia regalis Cricula trifenestrata Danaus plexippus Eacles imperialis Erynnis tristis Estigmene acrea Eumorpha achemon Eupackardia calleta Furcula cinereoides Heliconius erato Heliconius hecale Heliconius sapho Heliconius sara Hyalophora cecropia Hyalophora columbia Hyalophora euryalus Hylephila phyleus Hyles lineata Junonia coenia Langia zenzeroides formosana Lophocampa maculata Manduca sexta Morpho peleides Nymphalis antiopa Orgyia vetusta Orthosia hibisci quenquefasciata Pachysphinx modesta Papilio cresphontes Papilio eurymedon Papilio glaucus Papilio machaon oregonius Papilio multicaudata Papilio polyxenes asterius Papilio rumiko Papilio rutulus Papilio zelicaon Phyciodes mylitta Phyciodes pulchella Pieris rapae Plejebus acmon Poanes melane Polites sabuleti Polygonia satyrus Pyrgus communis Rothschildia jacobaeae Samia cynthia advena Samia ricini Smerinthus cerisyi Smerinthus ophthalmica Strymon melinus Trichoplusia ni Uresephita reversalis Vanessa annabella Vanessa atalanta Vanessa cardui Unidentified Lepidoptera Hybrids Papilio glaucus × Papilio rutulus Papilio polyxenes asterius × Papilio zelicaon Orthoptera Melanoplus devastator Phaneroptera nana Pristoceuthophilus pacificus Scudderia mexicana Trimerotropis pallidipennis Phasmatodea Carausius morosus Phyllium giganteum Mantodea Mantis religiosa Phyllocrania paradoxa Hymenoptera Apis mellifera Bombus vosnesenskii Brachymeria ovata Linepithema humile Pediobius sp. Polistes dominula Xylocopa varipuncta Unidentified Diptera Lucilia sericata Unidentified Hemiptera Brochymena sp. Leptoglossus sp. Nezara viridula Odonata Argia vivida Libellula croceipennis Coleoptera Coccinella septempunctata Cycloneda polita Diabrotica undecimpunctata Hippodamia convergens Araneae (Class: Arachnida) Araneus diadematus Phidippus johnsoni |