Katydids get around entirely on their legs, and can only find their companions by singing

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Many people must have heardguoguoerthis name, though it varies somewhat from region to region, for example "guaiguai", "guaizi", "jiao gege" and the like. True to its name, this is a type of animal whose adult males can produce a series of calls resembling "ge ge ge ge" or "zhi zhi zhi zhi".

Sometimes ordinary people loosely call insects of the superfamily Tettigonioidea guoguoer, which is understandable. But the superfamily Tettigonioidea is flourishing with many species, and in northern China the name "guoguo" mainly refers to the "guozhong", among which is today's protagonist -Gampsocleis gratiosaGampsocleis gratiosa。

Gampsocleis gratiosa. Photo: itchydogimages / flickr

In the north there is another similar insect, Gampsocleis sedakovii, which because its adults appear earlier is called the summer guoguoer or zhilazi.

Gampsocleis sedakovii. Photo: ohmynews.com

Wings but no flight

Gampsocleis gratiosa usually lives among mountain weeds and shrubs. Their forewings are short and small, and the hindwings have degenerated into tiny scale-like forms, so they cannot fly, and thereforegetaround on legs alone, and can only find others by shouting. Poor migration ability means that Gampsocleis gratiosa in different regions differ in body color and song.

Guoguo have no vocal cords;maleswhen adults close their left and right forewings, thestridulatory fileon the left forewing rubs against the scraper of the right forewing to produce sound; the mirror membrane on the right forewing is a membranous area at the base of the wing used for resonance. Although the forewings of Gampsocleis gratiosa are small, the mirror membrane area is very large among katydids, and the song is very loud.

Under a scanning electron microscope, a detail of the stridulatory file of Gampsocleis sedakovii; the sawtooth-like arrangement is the file-like structure used for sound production. Photo: Xue Zhang, et al./Zookeys (2015)

The calling behavior of Gampsocleis gratiosa has a clear circadian rhythm, with 2 calling peaks within a day and night, respectively atnoon and evening。

What the calls mean

Song is one of the main ways animals transmit information, and different behaviors produce different types of songs. The acoustic behavior of insects is generally caused by two aspects.

The first is the response of sensory organs to external stimuli, such as alarm behavior. Katydids emitwarning songs(warning songs) - when encountering natural enemies or being disturbed, they emit songs expressing panic to warn others of their kind or to frighten natural enemies. The warning song of Gampsocleis gratiosa resembles the school bell (electric bell) from childhood, rapid and piercing.

The second is the response caused by physiological behaviors such as mating and courtship, for examplecalling songs(calling songs) - when there are no females or enemies, and without disturbance, the song emitted by a single male - this is mainly the song people keep guoguo at home to appreciate.

Does it evoke your childhood memories? Audio: Er Zhu

There are alsocourtship songs(courtship songs) - when males and females coexist in the environment, the male approaches the female and emits a soft song that can stimulate the female and achieve courtship; in the wild, when a male Gampsocleis gratiosa emitting a calling song detects a female approaching, it switches to a song lower and deeper than the calling song.

Of course, many katydids and crickets, when two males of the same species meet, emitrival songs(rival songs) to fight over food, mates or territory, and the winning side also emits avictory song(victory songs)。

Eat vegetables in big mouthfuls, but also eat meat in big mouthfuls

Gampsocleis gratiosa is the formal Chinese name given by scientists. Although it carries the word "elegant", this is a species with ashortchubby bodyand relativelyslender limbs, whose appearance is really not "elegant", and whose table manners are also wolfing down food, very bold and unrestrained.

The flowers, fruits, stems and leaves of many plants are on the menu of Gampsocleis gratiosa. In the north, people often pick male pumpkin flowers from their own yards in summer to feed them. In fact, Gampsocleis gratiosa is an omnivorous katydid,besides eating "vegetables" in big mouthfuls, "meat" is also indispensable。

Some small insects are also on the plate of Gampsocleis gratiosa. Photo: nsc.ru

The prominent round compound eyes and slender antennae allow the guozhong to precisely lock onto prey around it, whilestrong jumping legsprovide the power to leap and launch a surprise attack. The tibiae of the front and middle legs of the guozhong have spurs and spines, in plain terms, the upper and lower parts of the first four legs are"covered with spines"; during predation the four legs close together, limiting and securing the prey, and the well-developed tarsal pads and terminal claws on the tarsi make it even harder for prey to escape.

A close-up of the legs and mouthparts of Gampsocleis gratiosa. Photo: itchydogimages / flickr

For the vast majority of insects, the chewing mouthparts of the guozhong are probably like thehydraulic pliersinvented by us humans - the sharp and powerful mandibles can easily cut through the exoskeleton armor of any prey.

You can also enjoy guoguo in winter

The female guozhong carries a "sword" with her - at the end of the abdomen, thesword-shaped ovipositor. Shortly after mating, the female uses her "sword" to insert into the soil and lays eggs in loose, well-drained soil.

Because it is mainly distributed in northern regions, the eggs laid by Gampsocleis gratiosa in autumn rely on adiapause periodto endure the cold winter. When the temperature difference within a day is very significant, the fertilized eggs begin to develop; after a period, the weather turns cold, and they enter diapause, with development halted; when summer arrives and temperatures rise again, development continues, and before long the embryo takes shape and finally breaks out of the egg. A very small number of fertilized eggs laid relatively late in the first year that fail to begin development before the temperature gets too low may even wait until the next summer to hatch.

Green morph adult of Gampsocleis gratiosa. Photo: itchydogimages / flickr

As a traditional singing insect of the north, people mastered the reproductive rules of the guozhong early through practice and observation and beganartificial breeding, including hatching and raising"winter guoguoer"in winter - after the start of winter, provided the low-temperature period is long enough to break diapause, artificial heating is started in advance, so that nymphs hatch early in winter, allowing people to enjoy guoguo in the cold winter.

Modern refrigerators and temperature-control equipment have made artificial rearing very different from tradition, and the hatching and breeding of Gampsocleis gratiosa therefore no longer has seasonal restrictions.

This article is the 241st article of Year 4 of the Species Calendar, from Species Calendar author @Jin Chen.

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