The sickle-bearing bush-cricket is a slender, all-green from Europe and Asia, and it isn't found in the United States. The female's short curves up like a sickle, which gives the insect its name. On the West Coast (California and Oregon) you may meet a close look-alike instead: the introduced Mediterranean katydid.
Appearance
- Appearance
- About 0.9–1.5 in (24–38 mm) long to the wing tips. The body is yellow-green and slender, and the hind wings stick out well past the shorter forewings.
- Voice
- Males make a faint, buzzy "tzzp… tzzp…" that is easy to miss.
Look-alikes
It's smaller (about 0.5–0.7 in, 13–18 mm body) and pale green with many tiny black dots and bright orange eyes. The sure differences are close-up details: the male's tail plate tapers in the Mediterranean katydid but splits into two lobes in the sickle-bearing bush-cricket.
Why they get mixed upThey are in the same genus and look very alike; this is the one actually living in California and Oregon.
Where it lives
- Typical habitats
- Grassland
- Scrub
- Gardens
- Range
- Europe and Asia, from southern and central Europe east to Siberia, Korea, and Japan. It has been spreading north in Europe in recent decades. It doesn't live in the United States.
- Preferred conditions
- It likes warm, sunny scrub and grassland, and also turns up in dry shrubby places, sand pits, and gardens.
Behavior
- Diet
- Mostly plants, especially soft parts such as petals, pollen, and young leaves.
Life cycle
- Reproduction
- Females use their broad, upturned ovipositor to tuck eggs into grass leaves and stems.
More species to explore
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