David Element

Wildlife Photography and Digital Video Images

________________________________________________________Grasshoppers and Crickets 1 – Dark Bush Crickets

DARK BUSH CRICKET Pholidoptera griseoaptera (m)

DARK BUSH CRICKET Pholidoptera griseoaptera (f)

DARK BUSH CRICKET Pholidoptera griseoaptera (f)

DARK BUSH CRICKET Pholidoptera griseoaptera (f)

DARK BUSH CRICKET Pholidoptera griseoaptera (f)

DARK BUSH CRICKET Pholidoptera griseoaptera (m) nymph

DARK BUSH CRICKET Pholidoptera griseoaptera (m) nymph

DARK BUSH CRICKET Pholidoptera griseoaptera (m) nymph

DARK BUSH CRICKET Pholidoptera griseoaptera (m) nymph

DARK BUSH CRICKET Pholidoptera griseoaptera (m) nymph

DARK BUSH CRICKET Pholidoptera griseoaptera (m) nymph

DARK BUSH CRICKET Pholidoptera griseoaptera (m) nymph

DARK BUSH CRICKET Pholidoptera griseoaptera nymph

DARK BUSH CRICKET Pholidoptera griseoaptera nymph

DARK BUSH CRICKET Pholidoptera griseoaptera nymph

DARK BUSH CRICKET Pholidoptera griseoaptera nymph

DARK BUSH CRICKET Pholidoptera griseoaptera nymph

· The Dark Bush Cricket Pholidoptera griseoaptera is one of the easier bush crickets to identify in the UK but the same does not apply in Continental Europe where there are several similar species. Woodland margins in southern counties are the favoured habitat of these insects and they will often sun themselves on the upper surfaces of leaves on bright afternoons.

RECOMMENDED REFERENCES:

· ‘Field Guide to the Grasshopper and Allies of Great Britain and Ireland’, Peter Sutton, Björn Beckmann, illustrated by Richard Lewington, Bloomsbury Wildlife, 2026 ISBN: 978-1-4729-7680-2

· 'Grasshoppers and Allied Insects of Great Britain and Ireland', Judith A. Marshall and E.C.M. Haes, Harley Books, 1988. ISBN 0 946589 13 5

· 'Grasshoppers and Crickets of Surrey', David W. Baldock, Surrey Wildlife Trust, 1998. ISBN 0 9526065 4 2 - see: http://www.surreywildlifetrust.co.uk/ for further information about the Surrey Wildlife Atlas series. This comprehensively illustrated book contains reproductions of the song diagrams (for Surrey species, i.e. most of the British fauna) originally published in 'Grasshoppers, Crickets and Cockroaches of the British Isles' by David Ragge. These books are unfortunately out of print, but for those with an interest in identification by sound there are tape cassettes and CDs available - *see below. The use of bat detectors for the identification of orthopterans is detailed in this book. It is likely that many observers will need them as the ability to hear high frequency sounds tends to deteriorate by the time that the necessary identification skills have been developed!

· 'A Field Guide to the Grasshoppers and Crickets of Britain and Northern Europe', Heiko Bellman, Collins, 1988 ISBN 0 00-219852-5

· ‘The Grasshoppers of Greece’, Luc Willemse, Roy Kleukers & Baudewiljn Odé, EIS Kenniscentrum Insecten & Naturalis Biodiversity Center, 2018 (in English – an excellent and comprehensively illustrated reference work covering Greece but also very useful reference material for Orthoptera in other parts of the Mediterranean region. ISBN 978-90-76261-15-7

· ‘Die Heuschrecken Deutschlands und Nordtirols Bestimmen Beobachten Schützen’, Fischer, Steinlechner, Zehm, Poniatowski, Fartmann, Beckmann, Stettmer, Quelle & Meyer, 2016 ISBN 978-3-494-01670-2 (text written in German)

· 'British Wildlife', British Wildlife Publishing, ISSN 0958-0956 contains regular Orthoptera reports by Dr Peter Sutton – see below.

* FOR SOUND IDENTIFICATION:

• 'A Sound Guide to the Grasshoppers and Allied Insects of Great Britain and Ireland' by J.F. Burton and D.R. Ragge is a tape containing the songs of 26 species

• 'A Sound Guide to the Grasshoppers and Crickets of Western Europe' by D.R. Ragge and W.J. Reynolds is a twin set of CDs containing the songs of 170 European species (including all the British examples)

• The Environmental Records Centre for Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly website has very informative pages which contain sound recordings and sonograms for the grasshoppers and bush crickets found in that area: http://www.erccis.co.uk/species/cricketcalls.htm http://www.erccis.co.uk/species/grasshoppercalls.htm

ORTHOPTERA RECORDS:

• Dr. Peter Sutton is the National Orthoptera Recorder. He may be contacted at: petersutton@freeuk.com. The Orthoptera Recording Scheme Newsletter may be downloaded from the Biological Records Centre Website: http://www.brc.ac.uk/brcNewsletterResults.asp?news_id=24

RECOMMENDED WEBSITES:

• http://www.tettigonia.com/ is an enormously elaborate scientific database and a valuable resource for researching orthopteran taxonomy. Photographs of huge numbers of set specimens are available for on-line reference. Unfortunately, the colours of these insects fade after death, so full identification will require close examination of the morphology.

-> Grasshoppers and Crickets 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50

-> Species Index, Common Names

-> Species Index, Scientific Names

-> Site Index

-> Home

© David Element