More fun misadventures with Scudderia

brown male eats pollen with a green female

Recently I have found that Scudderia mexicana habituates to tactile stimulation during strong winds; it fails to react to even severe battering by nearby swaying leaves and likewise fails to react when scooped up in the hand:

same female as above

Interestingly today I have also found that even during nonwindy days it is possible to hold them, as long as pollensticks are provided as bribery (and sudden movements are avoided). Several reports exist of captive-raised Scudderia spp. becoming permanently fearless; I encourage keepers of other long-lived Tettigoniidae to experiment with desensitization training too. Unfortunately Phaneroptera nana does not currently seem to be active in my area for some reason, so I was unable to test my ideas on it.


S. mexicana is, as previously mentioned, a highly sedentary animal when sufficiently satiated (even during the night); I have recently been playing with a brown and slightly bowlegged (harmless mismolt?) male, which currently seems to shuttle between two semiclearly defined perches in my front yard every large handful of hours. I have seen the same specimen in the distant past, so evidently the sunny CA weather has allowed it a long life.

As with other specimens, it is quite incompetent at selecting camouflaged locations and even more incompetent at holding onto food detached from its host plant:

Fortunately all specimens somehow apparently suffer little mortality risk even when sitting on weirdly colored succulents for days or eating the bright pink/yellow pollensticks I have provided, even though hummingbirds and small brown/yellow birds regularly fly around the area.


My current attempts at obtaining a receptive female for it and documenting courtship are quite unsuccessful;

(note the exposing of dorsal abdomen by the male)

In any case, it is pleasant to be able to interact with a bunch of wild hoppers without inducing stress! Updates soon, if I succeed in courtship documentation.