Jan. 9, 2017 – A new species of insect has been discovered at the Leon Levy Native Plant Preserve in Governor’s Harbour, The Bahamas National Trust’s (BNT) first national park on Eleuthera. The insect is a katydid and belongs to the same group as grasshoppers and crickets in the order Orthoptera.
According to Dr. De Luca,“This find – a new species to science – is a reflection of how much there is still left to learn about insects in The Bahamas, and it only highlights the incredibly important function of habitat preservation. Weare definitely protecting many species that we don’t even know about yet.”
To the layperson, katydids resemble grasshoppers, but are actually more closely related to crickets. Katydids are well-known for the fact that males in many species produce acoustic songs to attract females.
The new species was named Erechthis levyi, in honour of Leon Levy, after whom the Preserve is named. After Leon’s death in 2003, his wife Shelby White wanted to commemorate her husband’s devotion to the island and his love of the native flora. She created the Leon Levy Native Plant Preserve in partnership with The Bahamas National Trust…
