A Katydid's Disguise Is Also Its Pickup Line

A tropical katydid has been doing something evolutionary theory said shouldn't work: using the same body part to hide from predators and serenade potential mates. Male Viadana brunneri can exploit the acoustic properties of their camouflage structures for reproductive gain, making them a rare case of a single adaptation serving both survival and courtship without putting the animal at risk.

The researchers studied this Central American species at the University of St Andrews. Katydids sing by rubbing specialized structures on their wings together, and in many tropical species the leaf-mimicking portion makes up the majority of the wing surface. When the team measured what actually happens during a song, they found that the leafy regions vibrate along with the male as he sings, and the call records louder for it. In a habitat where silence never comes, every bit of extra volume translates directly into range.

Why does volume matter so much? The male's total singing window across an entire night amounts to roughly two seconds, pitched too high for human ears to register. Greater volume means the signal carries farther and reaches a distant female before an echolocating bat can triangulate the source. The camouflage does double duty: it keeps the male hidden while amplifying the signal he can't afford to muffle.

Biologists have long treated survival traits and mating traits as adversarial forces. Adaptations that improve survival and adaptations that win mates have historically been expected to impose costs on each other. The peacock's tail is the standard exhibit for this argument. Viadana brunneri appears to have found the architectural loophole.

The researchers next want to understand the evolutionary path by which a camouflage structure and an acoustic amplifier converged into a single wing feature, and whether similar dual-use designs show up elsewhere.

Evolution quietly solved the katydid survival problem, effectively combining two tactics biologist thought were in conflict.

Read the full story at Earth.com, June 10, 2026

Hot Take: The peacock has been carrying the entire conceptual weight of the survival-versus-reproduction tradeoff for decades, and frankly it shows. This two-second ultrasonic love song delivered through a convincing leaf costume deserves its moment.