''Moncheca'' is a genus of relatively large, colorful conehead katydids in the tribe

Copiphorini The Copiphorini are a tribe of bush crickets or katydids in the family Tettigoniidae. Previously considered a subfamily (the Copiphorinae), they are now placed in the subfamily Conocephalinae. Like some other members of Conocephalinae, they are k ...

, native to the

Neotropics The Neotropical realm is one of the eight biogeographic realms constituting Earth's land surface. Physically, it includes the tropical terrestrial ecoregions of the Americas and the entire South American temperate zone. Definition In biogeog ...

Description and distribution

''Moncheca'' inhabit humid forests in lowland and highlands (up to at least altitude) of tropical Mexico, Central America and South America. ''Moncheca'' and the closely related '' Vestria'', which both are known as crayola katydids, have bright

aposematic Aposematism is the Advertising in biology, advertising by an animal, whether terrestrial or marine, to potential predation, predators that it is not worth attacking or eating. This unprofitability may consist of any defenses which make the pr ...

colors and are among the few katydid genera to use chemical defenses against predators. They are able to secrete

pyrazine Pyrazine is a heterocyclic aromatic organic compound with the chemical formula C4H4N2. It is a symmetrical molecule with point group D2h. Pyrazine is less basic than pyridine, pyridazine and pyrimidine. It is a ''"deliquescent crystal or wax-lik ...

compounds from their abdominal gland that repel birds and mammals. They are fairly large katydids where males generally are smaller than females; for example, in ''M. pretiosa'', a widespread species found from Mexico to Bolivia, males typically are about long and females about long.

Species

''Moncheca'' includes the following species: # '' Moncheca bisulca'' (Saint-Fargeau & Serville, 1825) # '' Moncheca elegans'' (Giglio-Tos, 1898) # '' Moncheca hyalinata'' (Haan, 1842) # '' Moncheca pretiosa'' Walker, 1869 - type species # '' Moncheca spinifrons'' (Saussure & Pictet, 1898)

References

{{Taxonbar, from=Q10588026 Conocephalinae Orthoptera genera Orthoptera of South America