In Cesme I kept finding many orthopterans, usually attracted to our porch lights. This huge grasshopper had newly molted, its wings were all soggy and wrinkled. Look at those wonderfully-striped eyes!
Several days later, I found this large, one-legged katydid (family Tettigoniidae) she was very friendly, accepted every kind of food we gave her, and actually stayed in her little corner of the room for more than a day. She might have stayed more had I not released her back to the garden.How do I know she was a she? Well, there's something that looks like a sword sticking out from her back. That's the ovipositor, an organ some female insects use to lay eggs. Aside from the gender, I couldn't figure out anything about either of my orthopteran friends. Can anyone identify them?
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