Common True Katydid

Pterophylla camellifolia · Order: Orthoptera · Family: Tettigoniidae

Also called: Northern True Katydid

No source yet on danger. We have no source yet on whether it bites, stings or damages anything.
Common True Katydid
Photo: florawhite, CC BY

The common true katydid can grow up to about 5 cm long and is also called the northern or rough-winged katydid.

Source: Wikipedia

How to recognize it

Other common names are northern true katydid and rough-winged katydid.

Source: Wikipedia

Size

It can reach about 50 mm (2 in) in length.

Source: Wikipedia

What it eats

It feeds on foliage.

Source: Wikipedia

Lookalikes

It belongs to the katydid family Tettigoniidae, subfamily Pseudophyllinae.

Source: Wikipedia

Where it is found in the US

Recorded in 39 of 51 states and DC. Most records: New York, North Carolina, Texas, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Virginia, Georgia, Missouri.

Darker = more records. Counts are museum and citizen-science records, not population size.

Source: GBIF

Status: native in North America; native in Canada; native in United States. Source: iNaturalist

Months it is reported in the US

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Source: GBIF

More photos

Common True Katydid photo 3
Photo: Dan Johnson, CC BY
Common True Katydid photo 4
Photo: unknown, CC0
Common True Katydid photo 5
Photo: Ghostomelon, CC BY
Common True Katydid photo 6
Photo: unknown, CC0

Same family (Tettigoniidae)

Great Green Bush-cricketGreat Green Bush-cricketTettigonia viridissimaCan biteDark Bush-cricketDark Bush-cricketPholidoptera griseoapteraMediterranean KatydidMediterranean KatydidPhaneroptera nanaDamages trees, gardens or cropsFork-tailed Bush KatydidFork-tailed Bush KatydidScudderia furcataDamages trees, gardens or cropsSpeckled Bush-cricketSpeckled Bush-cricketLeptophyes punctatissimaRoesel's Bush-cricketRoesel's Bush-cricketRoeseliana roeselii

Sources

  • Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pterophylla_camellifolia

Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · ITIS · Wikipedia

Text written 2026-10-22 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-22.

How this page works

This is one bug's fact sheet. The colored box at the top says whether it is dangerous. Sections below cover how to recognize it, whether it is a pest, and how to deal with it. The US map shows which states have records; tap a state to see other bugs there.

Every fact on Bug FAQ comes from a named source (university extension sites, government agencies, GBIF, iNaturalist, Wikipedia). The source is linked next to each section. If we have no source for something, we leave it out.