These nocturnal critters are superbly camouflaged to the point where the veins and colours on their wings will echo the colours and vein patterns on the leaves where they live.

They usually have extremely long antennae and hind legs that would fit them for insect Olympic long jump events.

There are thousands of different Katydid species; the only continent that doesn’t have their own collection is Antarctica.

Most will live in the tropics but there are Katydids able to live in the driest and coldest areas of the world.

A Katydids size, temperament and life span will often correspond to their living conditions.

Smaller, short-lived species live in cold dry environments whereas Katydids from our hot and damp part of the world will mostly be on the longer-lived and larger end of the scale.

Smaller Katydids make up for their lack of life experience by packing a lot more in to the hours that they do have.

Little Katydids are able to move much faster, and need much less in the way of tucker, than larger Katydids.

Our tropical Katydids may live to a grand old age of a couple of years, and some of these are able to breed a couple of times a year.

Critters from colder places tend to only breed once, and won’t often make it through the winter.

Wherever they are from Katydids have exotic love lives.

Male Katydids give their lady a present of food, presumably to keep them busy during the supreme moments.

A successful bloke will have a nice big parcel to offer but may only get to mate once or twice in their lives as it takes a lot of energy to produce lots of lady tucker.

Males with smaller parcels may have to try a bit harder to attract a lady but they won’t use so much energy and may be able to mate more often.

Male Katydids will serenade their ladies with a song that is different for each species of Katydid.

Others sing at frequencies that are too high for us to hear, but sing to each other they do.

I like to think that it is lucky that Katydid gentlemen give their ladies presents of food rather than jewellery for as you can see in this week’s photograph, a Katydid keeps its ears on its knees, an awkward spot for dangling sparkles.