| Oak bush-cricket (Meconema thalassinum (De Geer, 1773)) |
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Scientific name: Meconema thalassinum (De Geer, 1773) Common name: Oak bush-cricket Other names: Drumming Katydid French name: Méconème tambourinaire, Méconème varié, Sauterelle des Chênes. Order: Orthoptera Family: Tettigoniidae Wingspan : Body size: 12 to 15 mm. The long and thin antennae can reach four times the body length. The long females' ovipositor can measure up to 9 mm. Biotope: Arboreal insect, the Oak bush-cricket live in the foliage of trees, in particular Oaks and Lime Trees. Geographic area: Western Europe, introduced to North America in the region of New-York. Observation period : Adults are observed from July to late October. |
Oak bush-crickets are a light green colour. The wings slightly exceed the tip of the abdomen. The pronotum shows a yellow median line, with, at the rear, one brown spot on each side. Males cannot stridulate. They attract females by drumming on leaves with a hind leg. The produced sound is almost inaudible for a human ear. Oak bush-crickets feed on larvae and small insects (caterpillars, aphids, etc.). Based on this it is considered as an helpful insect. Females lay their eggs in the crevices of barks. You can also find one similar species, the Southern Oak bush-cricket (Meconema meridionale). You can recognize it by the sclerified fore wings not exceeding the pronotum by more than two millimetres. This species used to be considered as Mediterranean but it is in expansion northwards and it was observed as far as the Netherland. |
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Is it a strong gust of wind that brought this Oak bush-cricket to my terrace? I am living close to a woodland edge. You must no be too close if you want to shoot a picture of an Oak bush-cricket including the long antennae. |
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Here is a closer view. The cerci at the tip of the abdomen indicate one male. |
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The almost perfect immobility of this cricket allowed me to try some "photo stacking". Here is the result of the merge of 45 photos with a move of the camera by one tenth of millimetre between two shot. The result is not perfect, mainly because of a small move of the palps. |
André Bon October 2021