C.E.S. INSECT OF THE MONTH
Acauloplacella Karny, 1931
– A genus of unusual Australian katydids
The katydid
(Tettigoniidae) tribe Phyllomimini (Leaf-mimicking Katydids) inhabits
the tropics in the Old World and South Pacific. In Australia there is
just one genus representing this tribe, Acauloplacella,
which are more often heard than seen, being nocturnal and living very
high in rainforest. These katydids are unusual in that they sit with
the tegmen joined but completely flattened, making a circle of the
wings that completely covers the thorax, abdomen and legs - they
presumably sit this way throughout the day, camouflaged to look like
leaves.
The individual photographed below was spotted sitting on a ceiling in
Kuranda (just N of Cairns), tropical northern Australia, where we
wondered what on earth it was, until we prodded it and it folded the
wings up, tent-like, to look like a more ordinary katydid! See the set
of photos after we left it alone in a tupperware to return to its
original posture.
Note the unusual wing shape when sitting in the usual katydid tent-like
position. The ends of the wings turn upward ("boatlike") instead of
downward as is more usual in other katydids.
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