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Sticker of Oak bush-cricket
Bug card No. 0978 of 1,500

Oak bush-cricket

Meconema thalassinum

The oak bush-cricket is a small green cricket that lives up in the leaves of trees, like oaks. Its feelers can be twice as long as its body. Most crickets sing, but this one drums on leaves with its foot instead.

Lives in
Europe, including Britain. People also brought it to the north-east of the United States
Length
2 cm (0.79 in)
Top speed
about 3 km/h (1.9 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It is a small, gentle cricket that does not hurt people.
What does it eat?
Unlike most of its cousins, it is a little hunter. It eats smaller creatures such as larvae and caterpillars.
For real!Photo of Oak bush-cricket
Picture by Gower. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Oak bush-cricket about 2 cm long (0.79 in)A grain of rice about 6 mm (0.24 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)
as long as 3 grains of rice in a rowcould run across a dinner table in 1.2 secondsmoves 42 times its own body length every second

How big is Oak bush-cricket compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

The male drums on leaves to call a female, but the sound is so quiet that people can hardly hear it.

2

Its feelers can grow to about 4 centimetres, much longer than its body.

3

The mother lays her eggs one by one under the bark of trees.

4

The babies hatch in late spring and are grown up by late summer.

5

A sneaky worm can live inside it and make it want to go near water, because the worm needs water to finish growing up.

you asked

Most asked questions about Oak bush-cricket

?What does the oak bush-cricket eat?

It hunts small creatures like caterpillars and larvae, which is unusual for a bush-cricket.

?How big is the oak bush-cricket?

About 2 centimetres long, and its feelers can add another 4 centimetres.

?Does the oak bush-cricket sing?

Not like other crickets. The male drums on leaves instead, and it is very quiet.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Meconema thalassinum
Group
Grasshoppers and crickets
Family
Tettigoniidae
Classification
Insecta > Orthoptera > Tettigoniidae
Lives on
Europe, North America
Also known as
Drumming katydid

Where the facts come from

  1. Meconema thalassinum (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by Gower. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at hello@bugwiki.app and we will fix it.

More from the same group: Grasshoppers and crickets

Also at home here: Forests and woods