Oecanthus califormicus
A male Western tree cricket singing.
This species come in three different forms: pale (green), brown or pictipennis.
This male is the pale form. He was found near Payson, Arizona. Note the amount of color on the entire head – this differs from Texas and Different-horned tree cricket.
This individuals entire head has an orangish color, but that can vary from pink to purplish to orange.
This is a brown form Western tree cricket. They usually are an overall pale brown color with some dark pink and grey, or plale orange and pale brown, at the base of the antennae, but some individuals can be very dark brown.
Here is a brown form 5th instar which is preparing to molt into adulthood. The wing sacs are swollen – males generally take a bit longer preparing for the final molt because of the intricacies of their sings and the singing appartus.
This is the pictipennis form of Western tree cricket. DNA analysis (underway soon) may reveal this to be a distinctly different species. Note the deep staining along the veings of the wings.
This is a female. This form inhabits juniper and pinyon pines, thus this coloring helps them blend in.
The underside of this form is much darker in color than the pale or brown form.
This singing male pictipennis form was found in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Here is the underside of a female Western pictipennis form tree cricket.
This female was missing a hind limb, but like others in this state, she manged to get around without difficulty.
To read the original description: