Species: Speckled Bush-cricket (Leptophyes punctatissima)
Family: Bush Crickets (TETTIGONIIDAE)
Category: Insects (Other)
Location: Widespread
A. Insects (Other)
More extensive information on insects can be found in a separate blog post.
B. Bush Crickets (TETTIGONIIDAE)
Bush-crickets are a large family that includes the bush-crickets and katydids, formerly called the long-horned grasshoppers. Although Bush-crickets and Grasshoppers are related, there are distinct differences between the two families. Crickets stridulate by rubbing their wings together at dusk, their 'ears' being on their front legs. (In contrast, Grasshoppers stridulate by rubbing their hind legs against their wings, their 'ears' being at the base of their abdomen.) Whereas Grasshoppers are mostly herbivores, Crickets are omnivores. Bush-crickets have long, thin antennae (in contrast to the shorter, stockier ones that Grasshoppers have).
We have a photograph-filled blog post about all the grasshoppers and bush-crickets that we have seen in the Cemetery that may be worth your time.
C. Speckled Bush-cricket (Leptophyes punctatissima)
The Speckled Bush-cricket is a flightless species, green with minute black speckles, and an orange-brown stripe along the back. It is generally secretive, but may be found from April to November.
Images
Speckled Bush-cricket
The Speckled Bush-cricket is a flightless species, green with minute black speckles, and an orange-brown stripe along the back.
These photographs capture a Speckled Bush-cricket in profile, enabling you to see the ovipositor that only female crickets have. This is a sword-shaped appendage inserted into the ground - or the hollow stems of grasses - to lay eggs.
Speckled Bush-cricket
The Speckled Bush-cricket is generally secretive, but may be found from April to November. This one is a female, photographed on a Wild Carrot.
Speckled Bush-cricket
This is a male Speckled Bush-cricket, lacking the scimitar-shaped ovipositor that the females have.
Speckled Bush-cricket
The Speckled Bush-cricket is perhaps the country's most common bush-cricket. This is a male, lacking the scimitar-shaped ovipositor that the females have.
Speckled Bush-cricket
Nymphs emerge in May. This one, shown here on a Daisy (not an Oxeye Daisy), can only be 2 millimetres long.
Speckled Bush-cricket
Nymphs emerge in May. This one, shown here on a Daisy (not an Oxeye Daisy), can only be 2 millimetres long.
