Light music player—Katydid

Katydids are among the best insect "musicians". The most outstanding feature of katydids is that they are good at singing. Their songs are different, some are high-pitched and loud, some are low and melodious, some are like gurgling water, or like strong wind and rain. The tone may be high or low, and the voice may be clear or dumb. Adding a series of wonderful notes to nature.

Morphological Characteristics The katydid, also known as the katydid, is also known as the elder brother. It is the largest of the song insects. The body length is about 40 mm and the sides are flat. Antennae are filamentous and usually exceed body length. The wings are membranous and fragile, with the front edge sloping downward. The left wing usually covers the right wing. The hind wings are usually slightly longer than the forewings, and there are also short-winged or wingless species. Male forewings have articulators. There is a pair of hearing instruments at the base of the tibia of the forefoot. There are 4 tarsal segments. The tail is short and the ovipositor is knife-shaped or sword-shaped. Tree-dwelling species are often green, while wingless ground-dwelling species are usually darker.

Biologically learned Katydids are progressively metamorphosing insects that go through three stages in their lives: eggs, nymphs and adults. Eggs are mostly laid in plant tissues, or in rows on the edges of leaves or stems, and are generally not laid in the soil. The nymphs need to molt 5-6 times to become adults. Grasshoppers have one generation per year, and adults are usually active from July to September. Adults are herbivorous or carnivorous, and there are also omnivorous species. They mostly inhabit grass, dwarf trees, and shrubs. They are good at jumping and difficult to catch. Sometimes if one of its legs is caught, it will not hesitate to "lose its foot to save itself" and break off its leg to run away. Therefore, be very careful when you go to catch them. The male begins to sing 3-10 days after shedding its skin. In the hot summer, it often sings loudly and sonorously. The hotter the weather, the louder the shouting. The proverb goes: "When the grasshopper chirps, summer is here." They have their "voice" and "shadow" in both the north and south of our country. It is widely raised among the people and is favored by enthusiasts. Every summer and autumn, hawkers on bicycles can often be seen selling grasshoppers in the streets and alleys.

Feeding method: It is not difficult to raise a grasshopper, and its feeding habits are very mixed. In the wild, they mainly eat plant stems, leaves, fruits, and occasionally small insects, and even boldly catch locusts. It is very easy to raise them artificially. It is usually better to use bamboo silk cages, corn stalks, and bamboo strips to weave cages, and hang them in a ventilated place to avoid sunlight exposure. Because they have the habit of killing each other, they should be kept one in each cage and cannot be mixed. As long as there is a proper mix of meat and vegetables in breeding, they will be healthy and strong and sing well. The vegetarian diet mainly feeds bell peppers, pumpkin flowers, green onions, edamame, luffa, cabbage, taro, wild rice, green vegetables, etc. Non-vegetarian food can be fed with a mixture of egg yolk, minced meat, liver powder, etc. After winter comes, people put them into gourds to keep them warm. They can usually be kept for the next Spring Festival. Hang the cage in a sunny place on the balcony or courtyard, and you can hear its loud chirping, just like you are in nature.

Types and Distribution There are many types of grasshoppers, and about 7,000 species are known in the world. There are about a hundred species in our country, divided by region. The south is collectively called "Nan Ge" and the north is called "Bei Ge". Divided by region, each place has its own name. For example, the one produced in Shandong is called "Lu Ge". The ones produced in Beijing are called "Brother Yan", and the ones produced in Shanxi are called "Brother Jin". If divided according to their growth period, those that appear after the Dragon Boat Festival are called "summer calls" and have a low voice; those that appear 10 days after the beginning of autumn are called "early calls" that are strong and loud; those that appear in late autumn are called "early calls". It is called "winter insect" and has a soft cry. According to their body color, those who are green and shiny are called "Cui Ge", those who are green and white are called "Bai Ge", or "rough Bai Ge", and those who are purple and red like iron are called "Tie Ge" ". If named according to the color of the eyes, there are "red-eyed green brother", "black-eyed iron brother" and so on. If caught in the wild, they are called "wild bugs", and artificial breeders call them "hatched bugs" or "fang bugs".

The various beautiful sounds produced by the vocal organ katydid are formed by the mutual friction of a pair of covered wings. Their "instruments" grow on the forewings: there is a slightly rounded sounding file on the hip area of the left wing cover, with strong and curved wing veins surrounding the file, and a thickened wing vein running across the middle. There are many small teeth on the sound file; there is a hardened edge scraper on the right wing cover. The sound file and the scraper rub against each other to produce sound. Since different types of sound files have different sizes, number of teeth, and tooth spacing. They are the same, so the sounds they make are also different. In addition, the thickness and vibration speed of the wings also affect the rhythm and pitch of the song. Different varieties have different frequency of occurrence. The frequency is usually between 870-9000 Hz. It rubs its forewings 50-60 million times throughout the summer.

Why do katydids sing? Only male katydids can make sounds. Females are "dumb", but they have hearing devices and can hear the calls of male insects. Male insects emit their own unique calls (vocal communication) to find mates and attract females of the same species to mate and carry out reproductive activities. The chirp for this purpose is a multi-syllable or single-syllable chirp called a "marriage song." Male insects can often sing continuously for a long time, and there are often several males singing at the same time. When the news arrives, the person with the loudest singing voice is usually selected as his "lover". In addition to attracting the opposite sex, the sound can also play a role in self-defense and alarm. When two male insects meet, they will sing a "war song", stand face to face, and shake their tentacles, which is likely to trigger an attack. Only by retreating can everything be safe. If something abnormal or dangerous occurs around them, the katydid will sound an "alarm" to warn other katydids.

animal tags： katydid