I stare vacuously at katydids

deformed Scudderia mexicana male

I have been feeling very lacking in sanity lately, but I have been watching and feeding pollenclusters to this deformed male since Thanksgiving; the local tettigoniid species here are quite lethargic, and rarely move far unless on dispersal flights or alarmed (allowing me to revisit the same wild individuals over amd over again). The male appears to have inseminated a nearby female when I was not looking. I was rather annoyed at having missed the full courtship sequence (I took great pains to relocate females for the male), but here are some more pics:

inseminated mexicana female

female eating spermatophore

clearer spermatophore shot