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Alien origin and spread of this SINA species.
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Remarks:
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Early in 2018, Brandon Woo found two female katydids in the Archbold Biological Station collection that he could not identify. When he sent Piotr Naskrecki photographs of them, he was informed that they might belong to the Old World genus Alloteratura. Because the females had been collected five years apart (2001 and 2006) it seemed likely that a self sustaining population of this Archbold alien katydid (AAK) had existed at Archbold during those years. Richard Archbold founded the Archbold Biological Station only after he was prevented by WWII from continuing to sponsor and participate in biological expeditions to New Guinea (Morse 2000). Thus it seemed likely that the AAK came from New Guinea—as eggs deposited in living plant material or by other means. The genus Alloteratura has 44 species (OSF) distributed throughout the Indomalayan Realm (which includes New Guinea). A search of these species for images resembling AAK revealed the two shown above.
Until additional specimens of the AAK are found (here or abroad), nothing is likely to need adding to this SINA page.
Clicking on the thumbnail of the 2006 female AAK gives access to Mark Deyrup's four photographs of the two specimens.
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