Giant Malaysian Katydid Profile
The ins and outs of what Katy did or didn’t do appear to have been lost to time, but one group of crickets appears to be very committed to reminding everyone that it happened.
The familiar calls of the katydids are said to come in the more common “Katydid” variety and the rarer “Katydidn’t”, but the giant Malaysian katydid is so loud it sounds more like an automatic rifle, and it’s not just the sound of this animal that’s impressive.
Giant Malaysian Katydid Facts Overview
| Habitat: | Forests and wooded areas |
| Location: | Malaysia |
| Lifespan: | 6 months as adults |
| Size: | 15 cm (6 in) with a 25 cm (10 in) wingspan |
| Weight: | Unknown |
| Colour: | Green |
| Diet: | Leaves and fruit |
| Predators: | Birds, bats, cats |
| Top Speed: | Slow |
| No. of Species: | 1 |
| Conservation Status: | Not Listed |
The giant Malaysian katydid is one of the largest insects in the world. With a wingspan of 25 cm, it can, though rarely does, fly, preferring though to stay put on its favourite tree, screaming into the woods and flinging poop around.
This is a strange animal by all accounts, but being weird and loud is somewhat of a common trait for animals in the order.
Often known as long-horned grasshoppers or bush crickets, they’re only somewhat related to true crickets and differ from grasshoppers in how they make their sounds.
Interesting Giant Malaysian Katydid Facts
1. They’re bush crickets
The Orthopteran order contains the grasshoppers and crickets, and more than 20,000 species of them. While the grasshoppers are typically known to take the day shift, crickets more commonly clock in at night, but the differences go a little deeper.
True crickets are actually just a single family, Gryllidae, and are distinct from many of the other families often referred to as crickets. Mole crickets, Jerusalem crickets, and bush crickets, for example, are not true crickets, but closely related.
And so, the bush crickets, in the family Tettigoniidae, are a distinct group of cricket-like orthopterans and are often known as katydids.
Katydids differ distinctly from grasshoppers – and are deemed closer to crickets – based on how they make their sounds.
2. They have a big hole in them
While grasshoppers make their summer songs by rubbing their legs against their wings, crickets and katydids rub their wings together.
Both techniques and those that are similar are known as stridulation and many arthropods are capable of it, but few are quite so large and loud as the giant Malaysian katydid.
This insect has a large space beneath its wings which acts as a reverberating chamber, allowing the claps of its tegument to echo across long distances.
The wings overlap at this location and there is what’s known as a file, or rake, made up of ridges called teeth, under the left side which are scraped by a plectrum on the right wing to make the initial sound.
This part of the body is where you can look if you want to tell males from females, as the female pronotum, or protective plate that covers its thorax is green, while the male’s is brown.
Females will also be sporting a long, curved protrusion from the back end, which is where the eggs are laid and is called the ovipositor. 1
3. They’ve got big balls
It’s a little-known fact that the 1976 ACDC song about an upper-class socialite was written from the perspective of the giant Malaysian katydid.
The males of this species are said to have the largest testicles of any animal relative to their body weight, at 14%, the equivalent of an 80kg man carrying around 11kg knackers in a wheelbarrow.
4. They age like a leaf
These katydids aren’t known to move a whole lot, and will generally stay in one place for much of their lives. So, they rely more on camouflage than any other strategy of defence, and like the leaves on their host trees, start off bright green.
But as the adults mature, they change with the leaves they surround themselves by, and over their relatively short, six-month lifespan, they gradually turn browner from the tips of the wings, mimicking an ageing leaf.
This is one good way to infer how old the insect is. 2
5. They fling their poop
This species of katydid, along with several others, is known for catapulting its waste nuggets using its powerful hind legs.
After turtle-heading, the back foot comes up under tension and as the loaf is pinched, the ankle cups it and a rapid kick flings it away from the tree it’s on.
This is a good way to keep predators at bay since there’s no conspicuous pile of brownware at the bottom of the tree to draw attention to the insect.
6. They can fly
Despite all their slow movement and hesitancy to go anywhere, these enormous insects have enormous wings and do know how to use them.
Flight isn’t common, but the 25 cm wingspan does allow the animal to move between trees when necessary, which is generally how they find one another to mate in the first place.
7. They may be cannibals
While generally peaceful animals, Katydids are known to battle it out during mating season if two males have designs on the same breeding hole.
It’s not clear whether this occurs in the giant Malaysian katydid but when battles occur in other species, they often end in injury and even death of the loser. And when that happens, the victor takes the opportunity to feast on his rival’s corpse. 3
Giant Malaysian Katydid Fact-File Summary
Scientific Classification
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Orthoptera |
| Family: | Tettigonidae |
| Genus: | Arachnacris |
| Species: | corporalis |
Fact Sources & References
- RiccieLewis (2022), “Malaysian Giant Katydid, the largest species in the world”, YouTube.
- ShawTVSSM (2016), “Entomica – BugOut – The Giant Malaysian Katydid”, YouTube.
- Bill Bower (2021), “Reflections in Nature: Katydid insect got its name from its sound”, Sun Gazette.