Powered by
TranslateMetrioptera roeselii
Metrioptera roeselii (Hagenbach, 1822) Common name “Roesel’s bush-cricket”
Length: 13 to 26mm
Two forms … the more common short-winged flightless (brachypterous form) and the full winged (macropterous form), the latter form counting for only 1% of the total population.
Family: Tettigoniidae.
Season: Nymphs first emerge around mid-May and throughout June, Adults are present from July till late Autumn. Overwinters in egg form.
The Roesel’s bush-cricket was only found along the south-east coast until early in the 20th century. Now it has become common and widespread over most of the United Kingdom, except for the most northern regions, although it is starting to expand there as well. Mainly this is because of the milder climate conditions, the United Kingdom is experiencing. It is also common in Central and Southern Europe, also found as far north to Finland and Sweden. It has also established its native range across Europe to western Siberia.
Roesel’s bush-cricket has also populated itself in Eastern Canada (first recorded in 1953 in Montreal and Ville St. Laurent by Urqhart and Baudry,1953) and the United States, as far as Illinois.
Habitat: Favours damp lush meadows, scrub, wasteland, coastal dunes, marshes, woodland, and unkept grasslands, typically found along the side of road verges. Adults feed on grasses and small invertebrates. In long grasses and thick vegetation they are not so vulnerable to predators, such as birds.
It is commonly observed as “flightless” (brachypterous) with short wings, although a much rarer form does exist with wings; (macropterous form) only account for about 1% of the entire world’s population. They may become more frequent during hot summers.
From dusk onwards male adults start to stridulate, which occurs repetitively with only brief pauses; this is to attract a female of the same species. (the sound is similar to the buzzing sound of overhead electricity cables, this is achieved by rubbing the legs together) Apparently the Roesel’s bush-cricket’s “song” is very much like the rare bird “Savi’s Warbler’s song,” that nest in reed-beds. Females have a long curved, upturned ovipositor; (which the males lack) this is also used to cut a slit in the stem of a plant to lay her eggs.
In May, the nymphs emerge from the eggs and go through five to six instars (An instar is a development stage commonly known as a moult). Arthropods such as insects go through each ecdysis (the casing off the outer cuticle) until sexual maturity is achieved. It is believed temperatures can influence the nymph’s final moult, determining whether the bush-cricket develops into the brachypterous form (short wings) or the macropterous form (full flight wings) during metamorphosis.
Read MoreLength: 13 to 26mm
Two forms … the more common short-winged flightless (brachypterous form) and the full winged (macropterous form), the latter form counting for only 1% of the total population.
Family: Tettigoniidae.
Season: Nymphs first emerge around mid-May and throughout June, Adults are present from July till late Autumn. Overwinters in egg form.
The Roesel’s bush-cricket was only found along the south-east coast until early in the 20th century. Now it has become common and widespread over most of the United Kingdom, except for the most northern regions, although it is starting to expand there as well. Mainly this is because of the milder climate conditions, the United Kingdom is experiencing. It is also common in Central and Southern Europe, also found as far north to Finland and Sweden. It has also established its native range across Europe to western Siberia.
Roesel’s bush-cricket has also populated itself in Eastern Canada (first recorded in 1953 in Montreal and Ville St. Laurent by Urqhart and Baudry,1953) and the United States, as far as Illinois.
Habitat: Favours damp lush meadows, scrub, wasteland, coastal dunes, marshes, woodland, and unkept grasslands, typically found along the side of road verges. Adults feed on grasses and small invertebrates. In long grasses and thick vegetation they are not so vulnerable to predators, such as birds.
It is commonly observed as “flightless” (brachypterous) with short wings, although a much rarer form does exist with wings; (macropterous form) only account for about 1% of the entire world’s population. They may become more frequent during hot summers.
From dusk onwards male adults start to stridulate, which occurs repetitively with only brief pauses; this is to attract a female of the same species. (the sound is similar to the buzzing sound of overhead electricity cables, this is achieved by rubbing the legs together) Apparently the Roesel’s bush-cricket’s “song” is very much like the rare bird “Savi’s Warbler’s song,” that nest in reed-beds. Females have a long curved, upturned ovipositor; (which the males lack) this is also used to cut a slit in the stem of a plant to lay her eggs.
In May, the nymphs emerge from the eggs and go through five to six instars (An instar is a development stage commonly known as a moult). Arthropods such as insects go through each ecdysis (the casing off the outer cuticle) until sexual maturity is achieved. It is believed temperatures can influence the nymph’s final moult, determining whether the bush-cricket develops into the brachypterous form (short wings) or the macropterous form (full flight wings) during metamorphosis.
