Tettigoniidae

Insects in the family Tettigoniidae are commonly called katydids or bush crickets. They have previously been known as "long-horned grasshoppers". More than 8,000 species are known. Part of the suborder Ensifera, the Tettigoniidae are the only extant family in the superfamily Tettigonioidea.

Tettigoniidae

Quartl · CC BY-SA 3.0 · via Wikipedia/Commons. May be a photograph of a specimen, or an artist’s reconstruction — an interpretation of a skeleton, since colour and soft tissue are almost never preserved.

On record

Recorded, not inferred
Also called
katydidPBDB
Sits inside
TettigonioideaPBDB
Diet
folivore, herbivorePBDB, for Tettigonioidea
Life habit
arboreal, gregariousPBDB, for Tettigonioidea
Motility
slow-movingPBDB, for Tettigonioidea
Vision
well-developedPBDB, for Tettigonioidea
Environment
terrestrialPBDB, for Tettigonioidea

Time the record covers

At least 59 million years on record.

The record covers at least 59.24 Mya to 129 ka. No occurrence read is dated outside 61.66 Mya to 11.7 ka.

Paleocene — about 5 of 70 occurrencesPaleoceneEocene — about 29 of 70 occurrencesEoceneOligocene — about 10 of 70 occurrencesOligoceneMiocene — about 22 of 70 occurrencesMiocenePliocene — about 2 of 70 occurrencesPleistocene — about 2 of 70 occurrences63–61 Mya — about 1 occurrence61–59 Mya — about 3 occurrences59–57 Mya — about 0.4 occurrences57–55 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences55–52 Mya — about 1 occurrence52–50 Mya — about 1 occurrence50–48 Mya — about 1 occurrence48–46 Mya — about 0.8 occurrences46–44 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences44–42 Mya — about 0.3 occurrences42–40 Mya — about 0.1 occurrences38–36 Mya — about 12 occurrences36–34 Mya — about 11 occurrences34–31 Mya — about 1 occurrence31–29 Mya — about 1 occurrence29–27 Mya — about 1 occurrence27–25 Mya — about 3 occurrences25–23 Mya — about 3 occurrences23–21 Mya — about 0.6 occurrences21–19 Mya — about 2 occurrences19–17 Mya — about 3 occurrences17–15 Mya — about 1 occurrence15–13 Mya — about 2 occurrences13–10 Mya — about 10 occurrences10–8.4 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences8.4–6.3 Mya — about 1 occurrence6.3–4.2 Mya — about 0.7 occurrences4.2–2.1 Mya — about 2 occurrences2.1–0 Mya — about 2 occurrences59.24 Mya129 ka63 Mya0 Mya

70 occurrences of Tettigoniidae on record, most of them in the Eocene. The Paleobiology Database records this as a living group. Bar height is expected occurrences, not a count: each fossil is spread across the span it is dated to, so a tall narrow bar means tight dating and a low wide one means loose.

When

70 occurrences

These are dates about fossils, not the animal: the record can only begin after it arose and end before it died out, so either end may reach further. Shares are expected occurrences: a fossil dated to a span is counted partly in each period it straddles. More on what this infers.

Found in

20 formations

Upper Freshwater-Molasse — 47.67°N, 8.93°EFlorissant — 38.92°N, 105.28°WFlorissant — 38.93°N, 105.24°WMenat — 46.10°N, 2.90°ERott — 50.75°N, 7.26°ERott — 50.60°N, 7.25°EMoler — 56.84°N, 9.00°EShanwang — 36.55°N, 118.71°EBouldnor — 50.74°N, 1.36°WHachiya — 35.48°N, 137.11°EXiaolongtan — 23.35°N, 104.28°EPaskapoo — 52.35°N, 113.69°WNiveau du gypse d'Aix — 43.52°N, 5.45°EThermalsinterkalk — 48.41°N, 9.55°EAtanikerluk — 70.06°N, 52.22°WCampagne-Calavon — 43.85°N, 5.58°EDěčín — 50.78°N, 14.37°ERedbank Plains — 27.61°S, 152.84°EKishenehn — 48.38°N, 113.68°WFur — 56.92°N, 8.92°EMonterey — 33.72°N, 118.28°WGreen River — 39.73°N, 107.98°W

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The named rock units Tettigoniidae has been recovered from, largest first. Drawn where the rock is now, not where it formed. 30 occurrences have no formation on record, which is common for older literature.

Tettigoniidae and its relatives

Eocene

Where Tettigoniidae and its relatives were recorded in the Eocene.

Found in the same rock

2,899 taxa

The Paleobiology Database records 50 sites for Tettigoniidae, and this reads all of them. The number is how many of those sites it was catalogued from too. The 24 sharing the most are listed.

This is not a list of everything alive at the time. It is only what has come out of the same ground as this animal and been written down.

Entered from

37 references

Each of the 70 occurrences read was entered from one of these publications, ordered by how many each accounts for. This is not a search for papers mentioning the name. 25 further references are not listed. Entries link to doi.org where the Paleobiology Database holds an identifier, and to its own record where it does not. Relayed as the Paleobiology Database holds them, not checked against what they resolve to.

Media and terms

Media content1

Picture of Tettigoniidae

Credit
Quartl
Licence
CC BY-SA 3.0
Commercial use
the licence allows it

No 3D scan of Tettigoniidae was found in Sketchfab.

Smithsonian Open Access and MorphoSource were not reached for this taxon, so this list is what the others held rather than everything there is.

The description on this site

Licence
CC BY-SA 4.0

This is what the site found, which is not the same as what exists.

Keep going

What may have been alongside itTettigonioidea through timeFormations of the EoceneThe world it lived on

Occurrence data from the Paleobiology Database, CC BY 4.0. Krauss 1902