Long-winged Conehead Conocephalus fuscus

Photo of Long-winged Conehead (Conocephalus fuscus)

(c) Martin Scheuch, some rights reserved (CC BY)

OrderGrasshoppers, Crickets, and Katydids (Orthoptera)
FamilyKatydids (Tettigoniidae)
GenusLesser Meadow Katydids (Conocephalus)

This one has a flightless doppelgänger, and telling them apart is trickier than it should be. The key difference? Fully developed wings that actually work, letting this species escape danger by taking to the air. Its lookalike cousin is stuck on the ground with vestigial wings that never function. Both sport grass-green bodies with a distinctive brown stripe, though solid brown individuals show up occasionally. Early in life, before wings fully develop, these two are nearly impossible to distinguish—a reminder that even seemingly similar siblings can have very different destinies.

Think you can identify this one in the wild?

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