Catch the Katydid if You Can (Extract)

It's too fast to catch, spears smaller insects with spiny legs, and sings a song that mirrors the syllables of its name, “Ka-ty-did, Ka-ty-didn't.” Its music is so catchy, it has even been used as the chorus of popular songs.

Listroscelidinae are a group of insectivorous katydid hunters from South America whose fast and aggressive behavior makes them difficult to capture, let alone identify. According to the authors of a recent PLOS ONE study, these Neotropical katydids have been understudied, partly because we haven't been able to get our hands on them. However, the authors of this study managed to collect more than 100 specimens from one of the world's most threatened ecosystems, the Brazilian Atlantic Forest.