Sphagniana sphagnorum, the bog katydid, is the only species in the family Tettigoniidae (order Orthoptera) endemic to Canada.[1] It frequents black-spruce sphagnum bogs across the Canadian northwest from Ontario to the Yukon.[2] The two-part song of the males is remarkable among acoustic insects for alternating between two sound spectra: high audio sound frequencies are changed for ultrasonic frequencies every quarter second (Morris 1970). The forewings rub to and fro, drawing a scraper on one forewing along a row of teeth (file) on the other forewing and sending thin glassy wing cells into oscillation to radiate sound; two different regions of this file are used for the two spectra (Morris & Pipher 1972).

Sphagniana sphagnorum
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Orthoptera
Suborder: Ensifera
Family: Tettigoniidae
Genus: Sphagniana
Species:
S. sphagnorum
Binomial name
Sphagniana sphagnorum
(Walker, 1869)
Synonyms

Metrioptera sphagnorum

References

edit
  1. ^ Vickery, Vernon Randolph; Kevan, D. Keither McE (1983). A Monograph of the Orthopteroid Insects of Canada and Adjacent Regions. Vol. 1. Lyman Entomological Museum and Research Laboratory Memoir 13. p. 489.
  2. ^ Vickery, Vernon Randolph; Kevan, D. Keither McE (1983). A Monograph of the Orthopteroid Insects of Canada and Adjacent Regions. Vol. 1. Lyman Entomological Museum and Research Laboratory Memoir 13. Map 62.
  • Morris G.K. 1970. Sound analyses of Metrioptera sphagnorum (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae). Canadian Entomologist 102: 363-368.
  • Morris G.K., Pipher R.E. 1972. The relation of song structure to tegminal movement in Metrioptera sphagnorum (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae). Canadian Entomologist 104: 977-985.