Photo taken: June 4, 2006, Garden #4, Flatbush, Brooklyn
Unknown insect on Artemisia vulgaris, Mugwort, in the sunny border at Garden #4 in Flatbush, Brooklyn.
It was small, the body no more than 1/2 inch long. I think it may be a juvenile form; it doesn’t appear to have any wings at all.
The antenna on this little guy are incredible. They look to be three times the length of the body, not including the legs. The hind legs themselves are about 1.5 times the length of the body.
I have no idea what it is. I think it’s in the Order Orthoptera, Family Tettigoniidae, which includes grasshoppers, katydids, and the like. It’s hard to tell with this image, but the hind tarsi, the rear feet, look like they have only three segments instead of the four which is a key for this family of insects.
Artemisia vulgaris, Mugwort, is an invasive plant. I’ll have a profile of it on another day. After I took this and some other pictures, I removed it from the border. It’s been almost three weeks, and it’s coming back up now, so Ill have to go at it again.
Looks like a Katydid nymph to me, but I’m not sure which species (even adults aren’t that easy to ID, so I expect nymphs are even more difficult).
I had a friend give me some wormwood, also Artemisia. “It’s a little invasive”, she said. Despite what I know of her, I planted it. That was 15 years ago and I’m still digging up and very carefully discarding shoots. It’s terrible.
I agree with your diagnosis – looks like one of them Orthoptera.
Glad to have met you through Bev’s Burning Silo – your blog is very appealing to me. And of course we’ve both gone through the Nikon Coolpix tragedy.