Wild Facts About The Angle-Wing Katydid

Angle-Wing Katydids Are Usually Heard, Not Seen

• Katydids rely on sound to communicate, especially to find mates.
  • Each katydid species produces its own species-specific call, with slightly different loudness, frequency, and timing.
• Male katydids make all the noise, thanks to two special structures located on their forewings called the file and the scraper vibrate and produce sound when rubbed together.
• Angle-Wing Katydids have two calls:
  • A slow series of single “lisps”,
  • Very rapid series of ticks (Eaton and Kaufman 2007).
• Both males and females have the equivalent of eardrums on their forelegs, that vibrate in response to the sound waves produced by the males.
• The simultaneous calls produced by lots of male Angle-Wing Katydids creates a raucous chorus during summer evenings.
  • In a sound study conducted in Pennsylvania, Greater Angle-Wing Katydids (Microcentrum rhombifolium) sang for 68 days; the approximate peak of detected Ensifera (the sub-order to which Angle-Wing Katydids belong) species richness occurred in early September (McNeil and Grozinger 2020, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10841-020-00273-9).