Mountain Katydid, Acripeza reticulata

Plate 129, Mountain Katydid, Acripeza reticulata

This most abnormal genus differs from all others of the order in the large vaulted tegmina wrapping round the short swollen abdomen in the female, and in that sex being without wings; while the male has the ordinary elongation and shape of abdomen and elytra, and has ample wings. The small size of the ovipositor is an exception to the rule in the family Gryllidce.

Like all the Grasshoppers, or Gryllidce, the tarsi of Acripeza are 4-jointed, unlike the 3-jointed tarsi of the Locusts, which they resemble in the shortness of the ovipositor. In the long slender antennae, the drum in base of anterior tibiae, and slender legs and thighs, and the stridulating apparatus at base of anterior wing, they are in accord with the Gryllidce. The Acripezce are, however, very peculiarly distinguished from both by the apterous, deformed females; and the extraordinarily rugged, coarse reticulation of the elytra.