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Forbes's tree cricket

Oecanthus forbesi

image of Oecanthus forbesi
Male, Racine County, Wisconsin. 31 August 2014.
Photograph by Nancy Collins, used by permission.

This male was on a tall smartweed plant in a large patch of goldenrod. The wings are blurred because the male is actively singing. With the forewings raised, the metanotal gland, located dorso-anteriorly on the abdomen, is exposed. The female feeds on the metanotal gland after mounting the male while receiving the spermatophore A sperm-containing sac that the male passes to the female during copulation. . The seventh image in this series of images shows a mounted female feeding on the male's metanotal gland.