Insects in the family Tettigoniidae are commonly called katydids or bush crickets. They have previously been known as "long-horned grasshoppers". More than 8,000 species are known. Part of the suborder Ensifera, the Tettigoniidae are the only extant (living) family in the superfamily Tettigonioidea.
Ensifera is a suborder of insects that includes the various types of crickets and their allies including: true crickets, camel crickets, bush crickets or katydids, grigs, weta and Cooloola monsters. This and the suborder Caelifera make up the order Orthoptera. Ensifera is believed to be a more ancient group than Caelifera, with its origins in the Carboniferous period, the split having occurred at the end of the Permian period. Unlike the Caelifera, the Ensifera contain numerous members that are partially carnivorous, feeding on other insects, as well as plants.
Saga pedo is a species of wingless bush cricket from the southern half of Europe and western and central Asia. This brown or green bush cricket typically has a total length, from the head to the tip of the ovipositor, of up to 10.5 cm (4.1 in), but exceptionally it may reach 12 cm (4.7 in), which makes it one of the largest European insects and one of the world's largest Orthoptera. The head-and-body alone typically is 5–7 cm (2.0–2.8 in) long in adults, but may reach up to 7.8 cm (3.1 in).
Archaboilus is an extinct genus of cricket-like insect that lived during the Jurassic period. Five species are known, ranging from the earliest Jurassic (Hettangian) to the end of the Middle Jurassic (Callovian) of Asia.
Panoploscelis is a genus of very large insects belonging to the true katydid tribe Eucocconotini, which is a subfamily of the Tettigoniidae. Like the other members of the suborder Ensifera, Panoploscelis are part of the insect order Orthoptera, which also contains crickets, grasshoppers and locusts. Members of this genus are among the largest katydids of the Neotropics.
Sphagniana sphagnorum, the bog katydid, is the only species in the family Tettigoniidae endemic to Canada. It frequents black-spruce sphagnum bogs across the Canadian northwest from Ontario to the Yukon. The two-part song of the males is remarkable among acoustic insects for alternating between two sound spectra: high audio sound frequencies are changed for ultrasonic frequencies every quarter second. The forewings rub to and fro, drawing a scraper on one forewing along a row of teeth (file) on the other forewing and sending thin glassy wing cells into oscillation to radiate sound; two different regions of this file are used for the two spectra.
Onomarchus is a genus of bush crickets or katydids found mainly distributed in the tropical forests of Asia. Like many other members of the subfamily Pseudophyllinae, their wings appear very leaf-like.
Meconematinae is a subfamily of the bush crickets, with a worldwide distribution.
Mecopodinae are a subfamily of bush crickets found in western South America, sub-Saharan Africa, and Asia. In Asia, the distribution includes India, Indochina, Japan, the Philippines, and Malesia to Papua New Guinea and Australasia, including many Pacific islands.
The Copiphorini are a tribe of bush crickets or katydids in the family Tettigoniidae. Previously considered a subfamily, they are now placed in the subfamily Conocephalinae. Like some other members of Conocephalinae, they are known as coneheads, grasshopper-like insects with an extended, cone-shaped projection on their heads that juts forward in front of the base of the antennae.
Copiphora is a genus of bush crickets or katydids in the subfamily Copiphorinae (coneheads) from southern Mexico, Central America and South America, with a single doubtful species, C. subulata, from Africa.
Typophyllum spurioculis is a species of day-camouflage leaf-mimicking katydids belonging to the genus Typophyllum. T. spurioculis lived in South America in the Andean cloud forest from western Ecuador, to Columbia in the middle central cordillera mountain range. They live in a habitat that revives 2000 millimeters to 4000 millimeters of rainfall and at elevations from 1850 meters to 2600 meters.
The Listroscelidinae are a subfamily of the Tettigoniidae found in the Americas, Madagascar, and Australia. The genus Arachnoscelis has become better known to the public after being featured on the cover of Science in 2012.
Cyphoderris monstrosa, also known as the great grig, is a species of hump-winged grig in the family Prophalangopsidae. Though the fossil record shows at least 90 extinct species from this family, C. monstrosa is one of only 7 known species alive today.
Chlorobalius is a monotypic genus of Australian bush crickets (katydids) in the tribe Terpandrini containing the single species Chlorobalius leucoviridis, sometimes known as the spotted predatory katydid. C. leucoviridis is a predator and is an acoustic aggressive mimic of cicadas; by imitating the sounds and movements made by female cicadas, it lures male cicadas to within its reach and then eats them.
Moncheca is a genus of relatively large, colorful conehead katydids in the tribe Copiphorini, native to the Neotropics.
Erechthis levyi, the blue-faced katydid or Eleuthera rhino katydid, is a katydid found in The Bahamas. Currently, it is described from specimens collected only on the island of Eleuthera. They are light brown in color throughout the body, but exhibit a bright turquoise-blue face and bear a prominent spine on the vertex of the head between the eyes, hence the common names. It is tentatively considered an endemic species to The Bahamas, as no specimens are recorded from Cuba or Hispaniola, where other Erechthis species occur. The species was named in honor of Leon Levy, a prominent Wall Street financier and philanthropist who spent much time on Eleuthera and was an avid admirer of the island's flora and natural beauty.
Panacanthus is a genus of conehead katydids found in forests in northwestern South America and Panama, including the western Amazon, the Chocó and the Magdalena River Valley. The common names spiny-headed katydid, spine-headed katydids, spike-headed katydids, thorny devil katydid, thorny devil bush cricket, and similar variations of the sort, do not apply to a single species or to this genus alone, and multiple species are often called by the same common name.
Siliquofera is a genus of bush cricket in the subfamily Phyllophorinae that includes only one species, Siliquofera grandis, which is fairly common and widespread in rainforest canopies of New Guinea and nearby smaller islands, and seemingly rare in Australia where only found in the remote Iron Range region. This very well-camouflaged, green and leaf-like bush cricket is one of the world's largest Orthoptera, with adults typically having a length of 10.7–13 cm (4.2–5.1 in) and a wingspan of 25–27 cm (9.8–10.6 in); it can weigh more than 30 g (1.1 oz).
Steirodon is a genus of large phaneropterine katydids in the family Tettigoniidae, native to tropical and subtropical forests in South America, Central America and Mexico.
