Metrioptera brachyptera (Linnaeus, 1761)

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

Status: British Isles native species.

Description: Green or brown but with bright green underside. The pronotum has a cream-coloured band only on the hind edge (unlike Roesel’s Bush Cricket, where the band goes all the way round the pronotum).

Size: 11-21 mm

Wings: Short-winged (brachypterous), with only vestigial hind-wings and short fore-wings. There is a rare fully winged form, f. marginata with brownish-black wings.

Stridulation: Soft but shrill buzz like rapidly ticking watch

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

The Bog Bush-Cricket has a distinct chuffing sound when heard through a bat detector.
Source: Malcolm Lee

Food: Mainly vegetarian, feeding on buds, seeds and flowers.

Habitat: Lowland heaths and clearings in damp heathy woodland. Eggs are inserted into vegetation by means of the ovipositor.

Phenology: Nymphs hatch in May and June. Adults from July until late autumn.

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.