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Family TETTIGONIIDAE
- This page contains pictures and information about the Brisbane Garden Katydids that we found in the
Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia.
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 - Male, adult, 40mm
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- This Brisbane Garden Katydid, as its
common name implied, can be easily found in Brisbane gardens. The insects are green
in colour resemble leaves. On the top of their abdomen there are the pink and
yellow pattern covered by their wings. This Brisbane Garden Katydid could be
very close related to the Common Garden Katydid Caedicia simplex.
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- Front yard, Aug
2002
Unknown location, Jan
2004
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Front yard, Aug 2002
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- From the reference information, the Common Garden Katydid broadly occurs
throughout the temperate areas of east coast of Australia. However, in
Brisbane Garden we found only this one. The Common Garden Katydid is hardly
seen.
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 - Backyard, Dec
2003
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- Like other katydids, the males produce sound by rubbing their forewings to
attach females. Look at the above pictures carefully, we can see a small hole on
each of its front leg. They are the organs that the insect used to hear the
sound.
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 - Unknown location, Feb 2007
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- Unlike the Gum Leaf Katydid which feeds only on gum leaves, the
Brisbane Garden
Katydid feeds on different plants including leaves and flowers.
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- Karawatha Forest, Dec
2007
Karawatha Forest, Feb 2008
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- They are slow
moving. May jump a short distance if disturbed. They are not a good
flier.
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 - Wishart Bushland near Bulimba Creek, Mar 2008
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 - Daisy Hills, Feb 2009
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- Most pictures in this page were taken in Brisbane's front yards, gardens
and suburban bushlands
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Daisy Hills, Mar
2010
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- Backyard, Dec 2010
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The Nymphs
 
 - Nymph with wing buds, body length 30mm, front yard, Aug 2002
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- The nymphs and adults can be found on different plants.
Why some leaves are not green in colour?
- Green is the colour of photosynthesis, so most plants are green in colour.
However, some plants, especially some young shots are red in colour.
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  - Front yard, Feb 2004
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- There could be more than one reasons that young leaves are not green in colour. The
mismatched colour to expose the camouflaged insects must be one of the important
reason. Most leaf eating insects like to feed on the young leaves, and most of
them camouflaged in green leaf colour. The mismatched colour makes the insect camouflage
not so effective and exposes the insect to its predators.
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- As the pictures above, if the katydid was not sitting (because it is feeding
too) on the young red leaves, it was harder to be seen.
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- Reference:
- 1. Common Garden Katydid Fact File - Wildlife of Sydney, Australian Museum 2007
- 2. Insects
of Australia, CSIRO, Division of Entomology, Melbourne University
Press, 2nd Edition 1991, p384.
- 3. Grasshopper
Country - the Abundant Orthopteroid Insects of Australia, D Rentz,
UNSW Press, 1996, p112.
- 4. A Guide to the Katydids of Australia - David Rentz, CSIRO PUBLISHING, 2010,
p163.
- Back to top
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- [ Up ] [ Brown-backed Bush Katydid ] [ White-backed Katydid Nymph ] [ Naskrecki's Bush Katydid ] [ 32-Spotted Katydid ] [ Speckled Katydid ] [ Common Garden Katydid ] [ ? Common Garden Katydid Nymph ] [ Brisbane Garden Katydid ] [ Dark Green Katydid ] [ Unknown Bush Katydid Nymph 1 ] [ Unknown Bush Katydid Nymph 2 ] [ Small Grassland Katydid ] [ Gum Leaf Katydid ] [ Mountain Katydid ]
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