Pholidoptera griseoaptera (De Geer, 1773)

Photos: Click on a thumbnail to see a larger picture.

Status: British Isles native species.

Description: Dark brown with yellow underside.

Size: 11-21 mm

Wings: Almost wingless.

Stridulation: Brief, penetrating chip, performed throughout the day and into the night.

Recordings: Note, your ability to play these recordingsdepends upon the configuration of your computer and browser.

The Dark Bush-Cricket makes a familiar 'chip' call to the ear but sounds like a short croak here, recorded with a bat detector.
Source: Malcolm Lee

The Dark Bush-Cricket makes an agression call when two males meet. Recorded with a bat detector.
Source: Malcolm Lee

Food: Omnivorous, feeding on a range of vegetation and small insects.

Habitat: Wasteland, bramble thickets, old hedges, woodland edges and rides, thickets on sea cliffs and scrub on the edges of saltmarshes and dunes. Eggs are laid into rotting wood or bark crevices.

Phenology: Nymphs appear at the end of April. Adults appear in late June to early July and survive until winter.

Distribution: The records held by the National Biodiversity Network are shown in the map below.

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Only the following datasets are included:

• Biological Records Centre - Grasshopper and Cricket (Orthoptera) and related species records from Britain and Ireland to 2007

Other datasets on the gateway may hold additional information.