Omocestus viridulus (Linnaeus, 1758)

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Status: British Isles native species.

Description: Green or green and brown. There is never any red or orange on the abdomen. Females are always green dorsally though green, brown or purple elsewhere. Gently incurved side-keels on the pronotum. Palps may be pale but never chalk white.

Size: 14-23 mm

Wings: Winged and flies well, but wings never exceed the end of the body.

Stridulation: Rapid, prolonged, sibilant clicking which starts quietly and rapidly increases in volume and is sustained for 10 to 20 seconds or longer

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

The Common Green Grasshopper recorded with a bat detector but, as our loudest grasshopper, it is readily heard by ear.
Source: Malcolm Lee

Food: Herbivorous.

Habitat: Long grass often in damp situations and particularly old, unimproved grassland which are not heavily grazed or mown.

Phenology: The first of the grasshoppers to appear in numbers, nymphs can be found from late April or May. Adults appear from July and survive into November.

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.