Cricket nymph?

Mrs Armitage · #1 (**permalink**) 04-09-2010, 08:14 PM

Hallo! I think this is a green bush cricket nymph, but it has 'feelers' on its bottom, not the sword like ovipositor I would expect. What is this?

aeshna5 · #2 (**permalink**) 04-09-2010, 08:21 PM

Only females have blade like ovipositors! This is a male + what you are seeing are the cerci. This is a male Southern Oak Bush-cricket, a fairly new arrival on our shores + quite widespread in parts of London/ Surrey + I know a few records from the midlands last year.

Where abouts are you in the UK?

Mrs Armitage · #3 (**permalink**) 04-09-2010, 08:29 PM

Thanks for your reply.

I am in Hackney, East London.

So it this a mature cricket, then? This is very exciting!

aeshna5 · #4 (**permalink**) 05-09-2010, 04:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mrs Armitage

Thanks for your reply.

I am in Hackney, East London.

So it this a mature cricket, then? This is very exciting!

A few years ago I did an invertebrate survey for various taxa + found hundreds of this species on Hackney Marshes when beating foliage, so I would estimate there were many thousands there + possibly at the time the largest colony in the country.

When mature (as they would be now) easy to tell from the native Oak Bush-cricket as the newcomer is flightless (vestigial wings), whereas the native is a fully winged species. There are subtle differences in the shape of the cerci, etc, but not easy to distinguish between the nymphs early in the season.