This Pink Bug Is Not A 'Rare Freak Mutant' After All | Defector

"For the last two years, Wainwright has exclusively studied such katydids and how they evolved their leafy masquerade. But he'd never seen a pink katydid before. When he dug into the literature, he saw that pink katydids had been previously documented in scientific literature, albeit not in this particular species, Arota festae. But most of these papers were more than a century old and made no mention that the pink coloration could offer any advantage to the insects."

"These individuals had been regarded as rare freak mutants that are disadvantaged by their conspicuous appearance. Wainwright plopped the pink katydid, an adult female, into a cage with other katydids he had been collecting, all of whom were green. Here, the insects feasted on green vegetation, apples, and water."

Evolutionary biologist Zeke Rowe discovered an unusual neon pink katydid in a Panamanian rainforest, a stark contrast to the typical green and brown leaf-mimicking coloration of the species. He brought it to colleague Benito Wainwright, who studies katydid leaf mimicry. While pink katydids had been documented in scientific literature over a century ago, they were dismissed as rare mutant freaks with disadvantageous conspicuous appearance. Wainwright placed the pink female katydid with green specimens for behavioral and genetic study. Four days later, he observed the insect changing color, prompting investigation into this phenomenon previously overlooked by science.

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