View Full Version : Insect ID - any ideas?
-Switch-
09-09-2007, 23:24
I walked into my kitchen just now and found this little guy sitting on the wall.
Obviously it's a grasshopper or cricket of some kind but I've not seen any this size or with
such vivid colour before.
It's body is about the size of a 'AAA' battery and it's a much brighter green than the photo
would suggest.
Any ideas?
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z292/SwitchBcuk/DSCF0213.jpg
Here she is a little closer up.
http://i190.photobucket.com/albums/z292/SwitchBcuk/DSCF0214.jpg
Apologies for the poor quality pics - I'm still getting used to the camera.
My guess is the Speckled Bush Cricket (Leptophyes punctatissima) Flightless, lives among nettles and brambles, vry hard to spot. Quite common in rural gardens, song, a weak scratching sound, difficult to detect. :eek:
A bit of surfing suggests it could be a great green bush cricket.
-Switch-
10-09-2007, 00:00
I've just checked a few Google Images and the Speckled Bush Cricket (female) looks about right.
It's a big example of one though :)
British Red
10-09-2007, 00:01
Certainly female (note the ovipositor at the back). I would go with Great Grenn Bush Cricket if its that big since a AA battery is 46mm long and so is a Great Green ;)
Red
British Red
10-09-2007, 00:02
Switch - speckled Green average 14mm - it huge if it is AA sized!
Red
I agree with speckled bush cricket, check out their nymphs. People use bat detectors to help find these, as Dave said, very hard to detect in the cover.
Regards Sparrow.
-Switch-
10-09-2007, 00:39
Switch - speckled Green average 14mm - it huge if it is AA sized!
Red
$orry Red, I missed an 'A' off of my description. I meant to say it was 'AAA' sized. Still pretty big though!
British Red
10-09-2007, 00:42
Aaah - either way tis a pretty thing I have problems with my As too. I have been accused of not knowing them from my elbows :D
I'm following the rest with great green bush cricket. These can occasionally grow big. I was hostelling in Wales a few years back and woke in the middle of the night with one sat on my wall - it was so big that I thought a bat had got in in the night. http://www.countryside-trust.org.uk/edge/edgecricket.htm says they can grow up to 5cm! We get smaller ones near my house - for some strange reason I've had to move a few from our bathroom. Why they go up there is a mystery to me - we certainly have no brambles in there.