This katydid with strongly reduced wings is potentially new to science and represents also a new genus. The calling song of the males is quite elaborate but very rarely performed, and lies completely in the ultrasound (between 25 and 35 kHz).

In close contact to the female the male rather seems to rely on vibration signals, produced by rapid body shivering. This behavior is reported for several Neotropical katydids, and is almost certainly an adaptation to avoid being detected by eavesdropping bats.

This potentially new species is fairly common on low vegetation close to creeks and rivers at 850 – 1300 m.

Scientific Classification

 subfamily Pseudophyllinae, tribe Eucocconotini

Where

On a RAP survey, Tepuyes of the Upper Nangaritza River and Cordillera del Cóndor, Provincia de Zamora-Chinchipe, Ecuador, South America.

When

April 2009

Field Notes

Male, body length: 25 mm

Finder

Holger Braun, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign