#orthoptera

Stick grasshoppers in the tribe Proscopiini

Found in Central and South America

my good friend Pycnogaster cucullata - mouse-sized beast, maker of high-pitched hums, and lumberer extraordinaire - very clearly prefers to hang out hidden in dense, spiky bushes like gorse in my experience. this one, though, was wandering around on fennel for some reason, which is the exact opposite of a dense plant, allowing me to get a pretty good look at him

i considered handling him for better photos, and easily could have, but even small katydids are famously bitey so i didn't really feel like testing my luck against something of such hippopotamus-like proportions

Prairie Boopie Boopedon gracile

Lichen Mimic Katydid (𝘛𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘺𝘻𝘶𝘭𝘱𝘩𝘢 𝘧𝘳𝘶𝘩𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘧𝘦𝘳𝘪), family Tettigoniidae, Borneo

Freaking CONEHEAD JUST FLEW RIGHT INTO ME

The long-headed toothpick grasshopper (Achurum carinatum) lives and feeds among tall grass in the southeast US.

They’re flightless and not very fast or agile by grasshopper standards, but like a stick insect their camouflage seems to make up for it!