image image image image

great tree cricket

Oecanthus major T. Walker 1967

image image image image
map female female female
image image image image
holotype male holotype male allotype female allotype female
image      
holotype male      
Song: Not recorded, but the wide lateral fields of the male tegmina suggest a powerful song.
Identification: Length 15–18 mm. Black mark on first antennal segment straight and very thin.
Similar species: None.
Habitat: In central Mexico, broad-leaved trees and shrubs.
Season: In central Mexico, adults have been collected as early as May and as late as November.
Remarks: This species was described in 1967 by T. Walker, based mostly on material from central Mexico. The north-most paratypes were from Sinaloa on the Pacific coast. Even though the BugGuide photo that eventually led to O. major being recognized as a SINA species was taken in Nov. 2010, its identification, by Nancy Collins, as belonging to that species did not occur until Feb. 2018. By that time, she had also seen the iNaturalist photo of a female from farther north in Cochise County, taken in Aug. 2017.
More information:
Genus Oecanthus, subfamily Oecanthinae.
References: Walker 1962, 1967; Walker & Gurney 1967.
Nomenclature: OSF (Orthoptera Species File Online).
previous species next species