A few nights ago, my wife went outside for a moment, only to come running back in a minute later, grabbing me. "Phil, come out here, you have to see this!" So I went out, and she pointed out this lovely lady to me:
I recognized it right away: a katydid, though that's a fairly generic name. I think that's actually an example of Microcentrum retinerve, or the Lesser Angle-winged Katydid (though it's possibly Microcentrum rhombifolium; it's hard to tell in these pictures*). They're pretty common in North America, though usually not this far west from what I can tell. It was roughly 5 - 7 cm long, and quite pretty. I suspect this one is female because there are no brown spots near the tops of the wings, which males have (I wondered briefly if it may have been a nymph, but this late in the season that seems ...
