Elegant bush katydid (Insara elegans)

Species name review needed
This species page may have an outdated title following a taxonomic or nomenclatural update. Please review before moving content or converting to a redirect.

Insara elegans
Other common names
Mesquite katydid
Taxonomic classification
Suborder:	Ensifera
Family:	Tettigoniidae
Subfamily:	Phaneropterinae
Tribe:	Insarini
Genus:	Insara
Scientific name
Insara elegans (Scudder, 1900)
Geography
Native countries:
Mexico United States
Traits
Diet:	Tree leaves, Shrubs
Sound
Listen to this species on SINA

This page is incomplete and lacking information and resources! If you have expertise or materials on this topic that you are willing to contribute, please feel free to add it here using the Edit button above or get in touch with an administrator to help.

The elegant bush katydid (Insara elegans), is a species of katydid that is common in arid portions of the United States and Mexico.

Taxonomy

Insara elegans (Scudder, 1901). For full nomenclature, see this taxon's page on Orthoptera Species File.

There are three subspecies of Insara elegans, Insara elegans consuetipes (Scudder, 1900), Insara elegans elegans (Scudder, 1901), and Insara elegans maculata Barnum, 1964.

Identification resources

Title	Author(s)	Year	Geographic purview	URL
Singing Insects of North America				View URL

Distribution

Insara elegans is found in the Chihuahuan, Sonoran, and Mojave Deserts and surrounding chaparral areas in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, southern Nevada, California, Sonora, and Chihuahua.

Biology and ecology

Ecology at a glanceInsara elegans

Habitat

Arbicole, Herbicole

Activity

Nocturnal

Sound

Stridulation

Flight

Strong flier

Habitat and Ecology

Insara elegans commonly uses palo verde (Parkinsonia sp.) and mesquite (Prosopis sp.) as host plants.

Resources

Title	Author(s)	Year	Geographic purview	URL
Singing Insects of North America				View URL

Specimen contributors for this species

Bionomia links specimen records in GBIF to the people who collected and identified them. Each list shows the top 20 for this species.

Collected by

People who collected specimens of this species in the field.

• Ken-ichi Ueda — 3 specimens collected
• Tristan McKnight — 2 specimens collected
• Ted MacRae — 1 specimen collected

• Graham Montgomery — 1 specimen collected
• Clarence Holmes — 1 specimen collected

Identified by

People who determined the taxonomic identity of specimens of this species.

• Tyler Grant — 75 specimens identified
• Ken-ichi Ueda — 4 specimens identified
• Tristan McKnight — 2 specimens identified

• Ted MacRae — 1 specimen identified
• Clarence Holmes — 1 specimen identified

References

<references>

Taxon identifiers

BOLD SystemsBugGuideCatalogue of LifeCONABIOEncyclopedia of LifeGBIF-species-ID (before 2026 update)Google Knowledge GraphiNaturalistIRMNGITIS TSNNCBI taxonomyOpen Tree of LifeOrthoptera Species File ID (old version)UMLS CUIXeno-canto