Description

These medium-large sized predacious katydids are found around Adelaide and into western Victoria. They prefer grassy habitats, like roadside verges and fields of long grass, making the Barossa valley an ideal habitat for them, of which they are abundant there.

Males can be heard calling in late morning or afternoon and drop from their perch on top of grass (usually feeding on grass seeds while calling) at the slightest disturbance and resume their position after 1-2 minutes. Females are more robust, with a long ovipositor used to deposit eggs in soil. Females are silent.

Total body lengths:

Male: 20-35mm
Female: 40 -65mm

These katydids are timid but are capable of delivering a fairly painful bite, however they can jump quite far and care must be taken to avoid escape.

They can vary in colour depending on morph, with green and brown morphs being most common although we have even found pinkish morphs in the same area.

We recommend using dead branches of trees in the enclosure for something to climb onto, then adding stalks of grass that have seeds on top. They will feed on these and also crickets. They can be housed in small groups.

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