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Correlation between substrate selection and body color of neotropical katydids (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae)
Author(s) -
Goodman Aaron
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
ecological entomology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.865
H-Index - 81
eISSN - 1365-2311
pISSN - 0307-6946
DOI - 10.1111/een.12942
Subject(s) - tettigoniidae , biology , orthoptera , rainforest , ecology , nocturnal , camouflage , zoology , vegetation (pathology) , medicine , pathology
Leaf mimesis is the most common form of predator avoidance displayed by neotropical katydids. Such camouflage is expressed through various body and colour forms to resemble different leaf shapes within the rainforest. The objective of this work was to determine if roosting katydids select vegetation the same colour as their body during the day, and if this pattern differs in the nighttime. I sampled katydids from the Monteverde Cloud Forest (Puntarenas, Costa Rica) by hand capture during the night and released them during the day, noting behaviour and final roosting vegetation. In total, I collected 61 katydids consisting of two monomorphic genera ( Idiarthon , n = 16, Lophaspis , n = 8), and two polymorphic genera ( Mimetica , n = 12, Orophus , n = 25). I generated contingency tables of counts for monomorphic and polymorphic katydid genera, comparing body colour to daytime and nighttime roosting substrate colour, and vegetation type. I then conducted chi‐squared goodness‐of‐fit tests on the contingency tables. My results suggest that during the day, both monomorphic and polymorphic species select vegetation which matches their body, however, this pattern is absent during the nighttime. However, species within the leaf‐mimicking genus Mimetica displayed no colour‐matching behaviours during the day. This study is the first quantitative analysis of behavioural colour‐matching of neotropical katydids and provides useful insight into katydid functional coloration and evolution.