Crypsis Challenge #10 Reveal

I didn’t intend to leave this challenge open for quite so long. Unfortunately, other things in my life sometimes have to take precedence over this blog, even if I’d rather it be the other way around. 🙂

Looks like the challenge was more difficult than I expected. Commenters who suggested a katydid were on the right track, but this looks like a cricket to me. Here’s the original photo and another version where I’ve crudely outlined the cricket.

Cricket, outlined

January 19, 2011 | Armonia Nature Preserve, Limon Province, Costa Rica

I provided the outline to show the position and to show just how long the antennae are. Here’s a closer photo, sans antennae.

Cricket revealed

The hind tarsi here are hidden below the tips of those surprisingly long cerci. The visible ovipositor makes this a female and apparently a wingless one.

I’m going to suggest this might be a species in the family Mogoplistidae, the scaly crickets. The presence of lepidoteran like scales is diagnostic. Up close this one does appear to have a sheen to it.  That family also has wingless females. I’m prepared to be corrected on this suggestion though.