Katydid Vs. Grasshopper: How To Tell The Difference

If you spend enough time looking closely at nature, you may spot creatures that look a little bit like grasshoppers or a lot like “leaves-with-legs”. These are katydids and, if you wonder what katydids are and how they relate to more familiar grasshoppers, this post will help.

Katydids are nocturnal insects with long antennae whose wings can mimic plant leaves. Grasshoppers are diurnal insects with shorter antennae. Katydids are “long-horned grasshoppers”; grasshoppers are “short-horned grasshoppers”. Both are classified in different families within order Orthoptera.

However, these insects differ from each other in more ways than just the length of their antennae. Read on for a full comparison between katydids and grasshoppers.

Similarities: Katydids vs. grasshoppers

Both katydids and grasshoppers are insects classified within the same order of insects: Orthoptera. Classification in science is based on shared characteristics, meaning that all katydids and grasshoppers are similar in important ways.

To understand the differences between these two types of insect, it’s helpful to learn how they are the same. Here is a list of similarities between katydids and grasshoppers that make them both “orthopterans”.

• Long, strong hind legs modified for jumping or hopping
• Two pairs of wings: leathery forewings (modified for sound production during courtship), membranous hind wings
• Chewing mouthparts
• Live on land
• Stridulate: produce sound or “sing” using legs and wings
• Can fly but don’t usually
• Grow by molting
• Generally large body size: only a few species are less than 5.0 mm and largest species grow to sizes greater than 120 mm (Ren et al., 2019)
• Close to the same number of species and genera in each of the suborders:
  • suborder Ensifera (katydids): approximately 12,000 species across 2000 genera
  • suborder Caelifera (grasshoppers): approximately 11,000 species across 2400 genera (Resh and Carde, 2009)

Differences: Katydids vs grasshoppers

While both katydids and grasshoppers are classified in order Orthoptera, scientists place them in different suborders in recognition of their differences, which will be discussed in detail below.

Antennae

Katydids and grasshoppers differ in the length of their antennae; this is the most obvious difference between the two types of insect.

Katydid antennae are much longer than those of short-horned grasshoppers, consisting of more than 30 individual segments. Katydid antennae are often much longer than the length of their entire bodies.

In contrast, grasshopper antennae are less than 30 segments long (Ingrisch, 2009) and much shorter than their bodies.

Ovipositors

Female insects lay their eggs through an organ called an “ovipositor” located at the tip of their abdomens.

Female katydids have highly visible, long, spike- or sword-like ovipositors at the end of the abdomens. Many katydid species lay their eggs in plants. They pierce wood or plant stems with their ovipositors and deposit their eggs in the slits.

In contrast, female grasshopper have short, stubby ovipositors. Unless the females are actively laying eggs, their ovipositors may be barely visible or retracted completely into their abdomens.

Many grasshopper species lay their eggs in the ground. They shove their ovipositors into the ground, then open, close, and extend their abdomens to make space for their eggs (Resh and Carde, 2009).

Legs

All orthopterans have long, powerful hind legs adapted for jumping and both katydids and grasshoppers jump extremely well. They leap many feet from a standing start, then use their wings to change direction in mid-jump.

Many katydid species have longer legs than grasshoppers, with thinner femurs powered by slightly weaker jump muscles.

Coloration

Katydids

Both katydids and grasshoppers can resemble each other at first glance because many species of both groups are green, brown, or a combination. But many katydid species look unmistakably different from grasshoppers.

In general, katydids are much brighter green than grasshoppers but this varies widely depending on the species being compared. Katydids absorb chlorophyll from the foliage they eat, which gives them their bright green color through spring and summer (Imes, 1992). As the season progresses towards fall katydids change color from leafy green to brown along as the leaves upon which they feed do.

Some species evolved wings that mimic leaves, complete with pale lines that resemble leaf veins. One example is the True Katydid Pterophylla camellifolia, which is found from Massachusetts south to Florida. This insect looks like a leaf to an extraordinary degree.

Other katydids that mimic tree leaves include the Angle-wing Katydids in genus Microcentrum. The individual pictured in this photograph met an unfortunate demise and had fallen from a nearby bush onto the pavement—which is the only reason I was able to spot it.

Grasshoppers

On the other hand, grasshoppers display a much wider range of colors across the different species than do katydids. While many grasshoppers are shades of green, brown, and tan, some species evolved bright colors and bold patterns.

These color patterns that look bold in isolation but break up the insect’s outline visually. These grasshoppers hide in plain sight when motionless in dappled light or when posed against a visually distracting background.

A great example is the Lichen Grasshopper (Trimerotropis saxatilis). This insect is mottled gray and black, which blends perfectly into the lichen around which it’s usually found.

Even extremely large grasshoppers can be surprisingly hard to see.

For example, the American Bird Grasshopper Schistocerca americana, is a large species that grows many inches long. Its body is red, brown, and tan and easy to spot in isolation. But it nearly disappears against busy backgrounds like tree bark or the shadows of dense vegetation.

Survival strategies

Katydids

Katydids are mostly nocturnal. They come out at night to feed and hide motionless in vegetation during the day. Their bright green color blends into the background and makes them extremely hard to see unless they move.

Natural selection developed katydid camouflage to an incredible degree in some species, resulting in insects whose wings and bodies resemble plant leaves to a startling degree.

One example is the True Katydid Pterophylla camellifolia, whose broad, rounded green wings are crisscrossed with pale green lines that resemble leaf veins. Although True Katydids inhabit the foliage of deciduous trees throughout the eastern United States, they are rarely seen, thanks to their superb ability to hide as just another “leaf” among thousands.

Grasshoppers

In contrast, most people are familiar with grasshoppers but may never have seen a live katydid.

Grasshoppers are diurnal. They move around during the day to eat and mate, and thus are much more visible in the landscape than their katydid cousins. Daytime predators that hunt by sight are major threats.

Grasshoppers counter this threat in two ways.

First, they keep close watch on their surroundings. Grasshoppers have a pair of large eyes, each situated on the side of their heads. The eyes’ shape and location gives grasshoppers wide fields of view and their vision notices movement easily.

Second, grasshoppers are the epitome of the adjective “jumpy”. They leap away from threats readily and with great speed, then use their wings to change direction mid-jump.

Some grasshopper species, such as the band-winged grasshoppers in subfamily Oedipodinae, are perfectly camouflaged at rest but have brightly colored or patterned hind wings that flare out in flight.

The sudden flash of color serves two purposes.

First, it may startle an attacker and give the fleeing grasshopper another split-second during which to escape. Second, an attacker may track the bright hind wings, then lose the insect once the grasshopper lands, snaps its hind wings back under the full forewings, and freezes.

For example, the Carolina Locust (Dissosteira carolina) is an abundant band-winged grasshopper found across the United States and Canada. Its body and forewings are mottled brown; it blends perfectly into bare dirt, where it likes to rest. But their hind wings—which they display only in flight— are deep violet black, edged with a thick yellow stripe.

These grasshoppers are nearly impossible to spot when still, beautifully obvious in flight, and nearly impossible to find again once they land.

Grasshoppers defend themselves directly when attacked as well. Some species hiss and flare their wings to startle their attackers. Others evolved “leg autotomy”, which means their legs snap off at special weak points when grabbed. This leaves their attackers with a mouthful of leg but allows the grasshoppers a chance to escape with their lives. Many kick predators with their spiny hindlegs and spit up the contents of their crops as a stinky deterrent.

Despite these efforts, katydids and grasshoppers feed many predators and represent vital parts of food webs around the world.

Song

With the exception of swarming locusts, grasshoppers and katydids are solitary insects and disperse across their habitats. They use sound to communicate with each other over long distances and sound is extremely important in the courtship of both katydids and grasshoppers.

Males do the singing in both types of insect. Individual males compete to sing the loudest, longest, most rhythmical songs. Females listen closely and judge the results; they mate with those males who produce the most pleasing song.

Any organism that uses sound to communicate must be able to perform two separate but related functions; making sound and receiving sound.

Making Sound

However, katydids and grasshoppers differ in how each produces sound.

Both evolved special body structures that vibrate to produce sound waves when rubbed or scraped together.

On katydids, these structures are located on their forewings; they scrape the rough edge of one wing against a raised, toughened vein on the other. Grasshoppers also use their forewings to sing but in their case, they saw the sharp spines of their hind legs back and forth against the rough forewing edge.

Receiving sound

Any creature that relies on sound for survival must be able to hear well, and katydids and grasshoppers do. But their “ears” are found in different places on their bodies.

Grasshoppers and katydids each have two tympanic membranes on their bodies. These membranes are located on the tibia of each front leg in katydids and on each side of the first abdominal segment in grasshoppers. Roughly equivalent to a human’s ear drum, these membranes vibrate in response to sound waves and—when interpreted by the insects’ nervous systems—allows them to hear and understand their songs.

Song quality

The song of every species of katydid and grasshopper is unique. This is quite a feat of evolution, as scientists classify more than 12,000 species of katydid and 11,000 species of grasshopper worldwide (Resh and Carde, 2009).

Katydid song sounds more musical than grasshopper song to our human ears. Katydids get their English common name from how their song sounds to us (i.e. “katy-did, katy-didn’t”), while grasshopper song sounds like a loud, sawing, incessant hum.

If you’d like to hear how different species of katydids sound, click here to visit the University of Florida’s Natural Area Teaching Laboratory website.

But each species can distinguish their own song easily even when many different species sing at the same time. To the females of a given species, the songs of their males are always beautiful.

Diet

Most katydids are nocturnal and feed on leaves, although some species are carnivorous and active nocturnal predators of small insects. Katydids live in meadows and the foliage of bushes and trees.

Grasshoppers are diurnal and feed on weeds, grasses, and crop plants, although some species feed on fungus. Individuals of some species known as “locusts” become cannibalistic but this is due to the dramatic behavior change they undergo when they transform into a swarm (for information about the differences between locusts and grasshoppers, check out this other Now I Wonder post The Ultimate Comparison: Grasshoppers and Locusts).

Both short and long horned grasshoppers can be significant pests to humans due to their plant-eating lifestyles. Some species cause millions of dollars in damage to agriculture every year.

Comparison of Katydids vs. Grasshoppers

Common name	Grasshopper	Katydid
Family	Acrididae	Tettigoniidae
Example species for comparison	Differential Grasshopper (Melanoplus differentialis)	True Katydid (Pterophylla camellifolia)
Size in mm of example species	28-44 mm	45-55 mm
Size in inches of example species	1.125-1.75 in	1.75-2.125 in
Description	Body is yellowish-brown, shiny, antennae either brownish yellow or red. Hind femora has distinctive black herringbone pattern. Wings extend to end of abdomen. Dark eyes.	Body is leaf green, fore wings are oval and look like veined leaves. Top of head comes to a point.
Habitat	Grasses, shrubs	Deciduous trees
Range	Common throughout United States	Eastern United States, north to Massachusetts, south to Florida, west to Texas.
Food	Primarily grasses. Will feed on crops, especially corn and soybeans.	Foliage of deciduous trees.
Notes	Don’t migrate. Destructive.	Both sexes sing; easily heard.

Conclusion

Grasshoppers and katydids are found in warm environments all over the world. Whether noticed or not, short-horned grasshoppers and long-horned katydids are key parts of the natural world and feed many, many other animals. Despite their destructive potential, they fill warm summer days and nights with their songs.

References

Arnett, Ross H., Jacques Jr., Richard L. Simon & Schuster’s guide to insects. Simon & Schuster, Inc. New York. 1981

Eaton, ERic R. and Kaufman, Kenn. 2007. Kaufman Field Guide to Insects of North America. Mariner Books. HarperCollins.

Florida Natural Area Teaching Lab, University of Florida. “Katydids” https://natl.ifas.ufl.edu/biota/katydids.php

Hartbauer, M., M. E. Siegert, and H. Römer. 2015. “Male Age and Female Mate Choice in a Synchronizing Katydid.” Journal of Comparative Physiology 201 (8) (08): 763-772. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00359-015-1012-9

Imes, R. The Practical Entomologist. Quarto Publishing, New York. 1992.

Ingrisch, Sigfrid, and D. C.F. Rentz. “Orthoptera.” In Encyclopedia of Insects, edited by Vincent H. Resh, and Ring T. Carde. 2nd ed. Elsevier Science & Technology, 2009.

“Katydid” The Hutchinson Encyclopedia. Abingdon: RM Education, Ltd., 2020.

Milne, L and Milne, M. National Audubon Society Field Guide to Insects and Spiders: North America. Chanticleer Press, Inc. 2021.

Montealegre-z, Fernando and Daniel Robert. 2015. “Biomechanics of Hearing in Katydids.” Journal of Comparative Physiology 201 (1) (01): 5-18. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00359-014-0976-1

Ren, Dong, Shih, Chungkun, Gao, Taiping, Wang, Yongjie, and Yao, Yunzhi, eds. 2019. Rhythms of Insect Evolution : Evidence from the Jurassic and Cretaceous in Northern China. Newark: John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated.

Resh, Vincent H., and Cardé, Ring T., eds. 2009. Encyclopedia of Insects. Chantilly: Elsevier Science & Technology.