Episode 69: Sound Key to Common Katydids – Voice of the Wild

This is Illinois extension’s voice of the wild. There are 12 common species of katydid that sing in illinois and this video can be used to identify them by their song. First I’ll give the name of the species, then any relevant facts that might help with identification, then i’ll play their song.

Pterophylla camellifolia, the common true katydid, is among the most ubiquotious night singing insects of the midwest.

Amblycorypha oblongifolia, the oblong-winged katydid with a dry, two parted song

Microcentrum rhombifolium, the greater anglewing, with a steady ticking and a sturdy “dzip”

Microcentrum retinerve, the lesser anglewing, with a little rasping rattle composed of four or five distinct notes

Scudderia furcata, the fork-tailed bush katydid with a very modest ticking combined with the occasional “sip”

Scudderia septentrionalis, the northern bush katydid with slightly more active ticking interspersed with buzzing

Neoconocephalus retusus, round-tipped conehead is the most common of the coneheads and has a continuous buzzing call

Neoconocephalus robustus, the Robust conehead also has a buzzing call but it is extraordinarily loud and given at a slightly lower frequency

Neoconocephalus ensiger, the sword-bearing conehead has a long series of loud quick rasps

Conocephalus brevipennis, short-winged meadow katydid wiith afew clicks followed by soft buzzing

Conocephalus fasciatus, the slender meadow katydid with a longer series of clicks followed by a more slurred and higher pitched buzz

Orchelimum nigripes, the black-legged meadow katydid with a hesitating set of clicks before a dryer, harsher buzzing

If the Katydid you are hearing is not one of these common species, head over to SongsofInsects.com and see if you can find the species you’re looking for; you can find a link to that website in the description. Thank you to Wil Hershberger for letting us use his recordings to assemble this key. Learn more about voice of the wild at go.illinois.edu/VOW