Korogisu - Korogisu

An insect of the family Colocynidae in the order Orthoptera of the class Insecta. It has an intermediate form between crickets and grasshoppers, with extremely long antennae. It has the habit of weaving leaves. Its body length is about 25 mm. Its overall color is pale yellow-green, with the forewings on the back of the body being yellowish brown. Its head is broad and round, with a rounded, raised top. Its antennae are more than three times as long as its body. The pronotum is nearly cylindrical, with concave grooves just inside the leading and trailing edges. The head and pronotum are shiny. Its wings are well developed, its forewings are oblong, males lack sound organs, and there is little difference in venation between males and females. Its hind wings are roughly the same length as its forewings, but are transparent and about three times the width of the forewings. All legs are thick. The hind legs are jumping limbs, but are short and are used almost exclusively for walking. The lower edges of the tibiae of the front and middle legs have a row of spines. The abdominal end of the male is simple and has long tail horns on both sides. The female's ovipositor is slightly shorter than the body length, sword-shaped and curved slightly upwards. Adults appear from summer to autumn, and stay inside the leaves by tying them together with silk from their mouths during the day, but roam around outside at night. They are agile and carnivorous. They may also fly to lights at night. They are distributed from Honshu to Kyushu.

[Yamazaki Egane]

Source: Shogakukan Encyclopedia Nipponica About Encyclopedia Nipponica Information | Legend

昆虫綱直翅(ちょくし)目コロギス科の昆虫。コオロギ類とキリギリス類の中間の形態をもった、触角がきわめて長い虫。木の葉をつづる習性がある。体長25ミリメートル内外。全体淡黄緑色で、前翅の体の背面にあたる部は黄褐色。頭部は幅広くて丸く、頭頂は丸みがあって盛り上がる。触角は体の3倍以上もの長さがある。前胸背板は円筒形に近く、前縁および後縁のすぐ内側にそれぞれ凹溝がある。頭部と前胸背板にはつやがある。はねはよく発達し、前翅は長楕円(ちょうだえん)状、雄では発音器がなく、脈相は雌雄であまり差がない。後翅は前翅とほぼ同じ長さであるが、前翅の幅の約3倍もの大きさで透明。脚(あし)はいずれも太い。後ろ脚は跳躍肢であるが短く、実際にほとんど歩行にしか用いない。前脚と中脚の脛節(けいせつ)下縁には棘(とげ)を列生する。雄の腹端部は単純で、左右に長い尾角をもつ。雌の産卵管は体長よりやや短い程度で、刀剣状でやや上方に反っている。成虫は夏から秋にかけて出現し、昼間は口から出した糸で葉をつづって中にいるが、夜は外をうろつき回る。歩行は敏捷(びんしょう)で、肉食性。夜、灯火に飛来することもある。本州から九州にかけて分布する。

［山崎柄根］

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