Long-tailed Meadow Katydid (Conocephalus attenuatus)
Song of a Long-tailed Meadow Katydid (scroll down for explanation and additional recordings!).
Long-tailed Meadow Katydids can be nearly impossible to find during the day. However, once night falls, they are easy to spot feasting on the seeds of cattails and rushes in their preferred wetland habitats. They are amazingly agile, disappearing in a flash once they see you coming toward them. As the light fades it is easier to get close to singing males and to find females approaching their suitors. This species can be easily seen at night by searching cattails and rushes with a bright flashlight.
Long-tailed Meadow Katydids range from southern Quebec and the eastern boarder of New York, south through northern Maryland, west to central Kansas, and back north to eastern South Dakota and northern Michigan. The species is abundant in their preferred habitat of emergent wetlands.
Song: Song is continuous and pulsating, lasting for many seconds with brief to very long pauses between songs. Most of the songs energy is in the range of 14 – 16.5 kHz, making this singer very difficult to hear. Mostly heard from sunset into the night from early August through late September.
Song, oscillogram, and sonogram of a Long-tailed Meadow Katydid. © Wil Hershberger.
Long-tailed Meadow Katydid
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Spring and Fall Field Cricket
Southern Wood Cricket
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Eastern Striped Cricket
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Ground Crickets (Nemobiinae):
Allard’s Ground Cricket
Carolina Ground Cricket
Confused Ground Cricket
Striped Ground Cricket
Southern Ground Cricket
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Tinkling Ground Cricket
Cuban Ground Cricket
Tree Crickets (Oecanthinae):
Black-horned Tree Cricket
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Broad-winged Tree Cricket
Davis’s Tree Cricket
Fast-calling Tree Cricket
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Two-spotted Tree Cricket
Trigs and Bush Crickets (Eneopterinae & Trigonidiinae):
Jumping Bush Cricket
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Say’s Trig
Thomas’s Trig
Slow-tinkling Trig
Mole Crickets (Gryllotalpidae):
Northern Mole Cricket
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FAMILY DESCRIPTION
Saltmarsh Meadow Katydid
Short-winged Meadow Katydid
Slender Meadow Katydid
Woodland Meadow Katydid
Black-sided Meadow Katydid
Long-tailed Meadow Katydid
Straight-lanced Meadow Katydid
Agile Meadow Katydid
Dusky-faced Meadow Katydid
Stripe-faced Meadow Katydid
Nimble Meadow Katydid
Black-legged Meadow Katydid
Common Meadow Katydid
Gladiator Meadow Katydid
Handsome Meadow Katydid
Lesser Pine Meadow Katydid
Long-spurred Meadow Katydid
Red-headed Meadow Katydid
Coneheads (Copiphorinae):
FAMILY DESCRIPTION
Round-tipped Conehead
Nebraska Conehead
Robust Conehead
Slightly Musical Conehead
Sword-bearing Conehead
False Robust Conehead
Marsh Conehead
Black-nosed Conehead
True Katydids (Pseudophyllinae):
FAMILY DESCRIPTION
Common True Katydid
False Katydids (Phaneropterinae):
FAMILY DESCRIPTION
Clicker Round-winged Katydid
Common Virtuoso Katydid
Rattler Round-winged Katydid
Oblong-winged Katydid
Great Angle-wing
Lesser Angle-wing
Broad-winged Bush Katydid
Curved-tailed Bush Katydid
Fork-tailed Bush Katydid
Northern Bush Katydid
Texas Bush Katydid
Treetop Bush Katydid
Modest Katydid
Shield-backed Katydids (Tettigoniinae):
FAMILY DESCRIPTION
American Shieldback
Least Shieldback
Protean Shieldback
Robust Shieldback
Roesel’s Katydid
Band-winged Grasshoppers (Oedipodinae):
Boll’s & Carolina Grasshoppers
Marsh Meadow Grasshopper