Predatory bush-cricket
The predatory bush-cricket is one of the biggest insects in Europe. It has no wings, and it is a sneaky hunter with spiky front legs. It sways slowly back and forth like a plant in the wind, then pounces on its prey.
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Fun facts
There are only girls. Each mother lays eggs that hatch into copies of herself without any father.
It is called the spiked magician because it waves its spiny front legs as if doing a magic trick.
Its eggs are some of the biggest insect eggs, about 12 millimetres long.
In cold weather its eggs can wait in the ground for up to five years before hatching.
With the long egg-laying tube at its back end, it can be up to 12 centimetres long.
Most asked questions about Predatory bush-cricket
?How big is the predatory bush-cricket?
Its body is about 5 to 8 centimetres long. With its egg-laying tube it can reach 10 to 12 centimetres.
?Are there male predatory bush-crickets?
Almost certainly not. Only females are known, and they have babies on their own.
?What does the predatory bush-cricket eat?
Other insects, mostly grasshoppers, crickets and mantises.
For bug experts
- Scientific name
- Saga pedo
- Group
- Grasshoppers and crickets
- Family
- Tettigoniidae
- Classification
- Insecta > Orthoptera > Tettigoniidae
- Lives on
- Europe, Asia
- Also known as
- Spiked magician
Where the facts come from
- Saga pedo (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
- Picture by Christophe Bernier. Public domain, 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.
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