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great tree cricket

Oecanthus major

distribution map for Oecanthus major
Dots show county records; shaded area shows likely general distribution.

The discovery that Oecanthus major, a common species through much of Mexico, occurs in the southeast corner of Arizona is a result of photographs made by naturalists for the fun of it. These were posted on BugGuide and iNaturalist, two sites that allow such photographs to be freely viewed and, sometimes, identified to species. In this case, identification was first made by Nancy Collins, who is a tree cricket expert who keeps an eye out for pictures of tree crickets submitted to BugGuide.