Homeless in Vancouver: Bugs me I don’t know what this is

    1 of 1 2 of 1

      Do you get these in your bedroom?

      This little green insect was bounding around my parkade last night and got a little too close to me. I lightly swatted it away; apparently stunning it momentarily—at least it stayed still long enough for me to get a photograph.

      Its body was bright green and no more than an inch and a half long. It had six legs, antennae, wide-spaced little bug eyes, and a distinctive caliperlike feature on the end of its abdomen.

      It had markings running along the top of its abdomen—yellow and brown highlights with two little black dots that suggested eyes—perhaps cryptic colouration to look like it had an insect watching its back.

      It looks a little bit like a kind a katydid (aka bush cricket), but in all honesty I wouldn’t know a katydid from a squid.

      was interested to find out that katydids come in almost as many colours as the iPhone 5c, including pink, but I’ll be more interested to find out exactly what my little green interloper is. I like to know who or what I might be sleeping with. 

      Stanley Q. Woodvine is a homeless resident of Vancouver who has worked in the past as an illustrator, graphic designer, and writer.

      Comments

      7 Comments

      Meathead

      Jul 29, 2014 at 1:22pm

      Send it to the UBC zoology entomology department or museum. They will identify it for you as they have for weird bugs I've discovered in the past. Good luck!

      colin briscoe

      Jul 29, 2014 at 3:05pm

      That is a Drumming Katydid, Meconema thalassinum, I believe

      spy

      Jul 29, 2014 at 4:22pm

      it is a small drone developed by the US defence department to spy on Canadians

      Stanley Q Woodvine

      Jul 29, 2014 at 8:17pm

      @ colin

      Thanks. That's what it is, a drumming katydid.

      Boy, katydids sure come in a variety of shapes and sizes!

      Meathead

      Jul 30, 2014 at 9:00am

      "drumming" I guess from the look of the position of those front legs