Gryllotalpa gryllotalpa (Linnaeus, 1758)

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

Status: British Isles native species.

Description: Large cricket, light chestnut coloured and covered with velvet-like hairs; large, very strong forelegs that are modified for digging.

Size: 35-46 mm

Wings: Forewings are short but both sexes can fly and do so at night.

Stridulation: Male stridulation is a loud continuous purring.

Food: Vegetable material, insect larvae and earthworms.

Habitat: Burrows into deep, loose damp soil at the edges of wetlands and seepages.

Phenology: Three year lifecycle.

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.