Coptotettix sp., Chestnut Drive.
Free-living orthopterans, at least those that do not survive by advertising their rank unpalatability or mimicking fiercer beasts such as tiger beetles and weaver ants, are known for taking the art of camouflage to natural extremes. There are katydids that mimic fresh leaves, ape the texture of decaying foliage or don mossy cloaks; there are caeliferans that vanish with ease simply by staying still on their favoured substratum, be it sandy dunes, long blades of grass or stones and logs by trails and stream banks. Where the order is concerned, the latter refugia, with their murky shades of brown, grey and dirty green, are often dominated by groundhoppers, a group of grasshopper-like insects that look little, lie low and lead unsung lives.
Also known as pygmy or grouse locusts, tetrigids can be distinguished from garden-variety acridoids by their elongated pronotum, which covers much of the abdomen. Some have long hindwings that jut out far from the pronotal shield; others are apterous or have otherwise unremarkable implements of flight. Another trait expressed, though not uniquely, by the family is a fondness for damp environments that extends, in some, to a readiness to plunge into weedy brooks, swim for safety or sink out of sight. On drier ground, the insects can be quite reliably found on logs, boulders with a coat of bryophytes or lichens, and the buttresses of mature trees. A few may venture onto nearby vegetation, but there is little point in hopping on a soft greenwagon when one's true colours match, rather, the mud of firmer convictions and nothing can be achieved by sticking to surfaces that are merely clean and green. Such exposure, however, could prove tolerable for nymphs in the genus Phaesticus, which bear antennae with flattened or foliaceous terminal segments. The juveniles of at least one species appear to mimic woodlice – terrestrial crustaceans that like to play ball and may also harbour noxious glands – with their stout profile and a strong illusion of isopodry conveyed by subtle banding on the pronotum and expanded femora. Pill bugs, with their usually crepuscular habits and unwieldy carapace, could well offer no appeal to predators of typical orthopterans, and one young copycat thus displayed uncharacteristic insouciance on a shrub by Durian Loop, where it maintained its composure and shrugged off prying fingers that would have driven off most other nymphs. This link is mere conjecture, though, for the taxonomy of a quiet family, as well as the tricks of their ontogenic trade, remain under wraps and indifferent to all but the most persistent of pursuers.
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