Green leaf shaped grasshopper like bug and a white bell shaped flower

Photo taken in front of the East Lansing Wild Birds Unlimited store

If you think this photo is about the flower, look again. Do you see the leaflike bug? This camouflaged katydid is hidden in plain sight from countless birds, frogs, snakes and other predators. They are typically not seen but heard, rubbing their wings together to make the namesake "katy-did" sound.  

Katydidsare distinguished from grasshoppers by their long antennae, which may exceed their own body length, while grasshoppers' antennae are always relatively short and thickened.

There are more than 6,400 species of katydids in the family Tettigoniidae but only about 255 species in North America. They are also known as bush-crickets and long-horned grasshoppers, although they are more closely related to crickets than to grasshoppers.

The flower is a Campanula persicifolia or Peach-leaved Bellflower in the plant species of the genus Campanula. Its flowers are cup-shaped and can be either lilac-blue or white and will flower normally in June and July.

Sources:

1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tettigoniidae

2. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Campanula_persicifolia

3. Insects of the North Woods by Jeffrey Hahn

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Category › Nature up close