Sooty longwing
The sooty longwing is a big, brownish grey katydid with long wings. It lives in the dry deserts of the western United States and Mexico. It is a loud singer and is busiest on warm nights.
How fast is it?
Fun facts
When it gets a fright, it flashes its back wings, which are darker than its front wings.
Its song is loud and shrill, and it goes on and on without a break.
It is most active on hot summer nights.
Measured to the tips of its long wings, it can be up to 7.5 centimetres long.
A wasp that is smaller than the katydid still hunts it and drags it into its burrow.
Most asked questions about Sooty longwing
?What does the sooty longwing eat?
It eats both plants and other insects, such as small grasshoppers.
?Is the sooty longwing dangerous?
No. It is harmless to people, though a big one might pinch if you grab it.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Capnobotes fuliginosus
- Named by
- Thomas, 1872
- Group
- Grasshoppers and crickets
- Family
- Tettigoniidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Orthoptera > Tettigoniidae
- Lives on
- North America
Where the facts come from
- Capnobotes fuliginosus (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Lake Mead National Recreation Area. CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.
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