Large for UK!

[Eddie-Bug]

On our front door all day yesterday.

Believed to be meconema thalassinum (Oak Bush-Cricket) female, about 20mm (double including antennae). But any thoughts please?

Small by world standards, but we don't have very large insects here.

Beautiful bright green green. Hope it made it's way back to camouflage overnight.

[adamcotton]

Welcome Eddie,

I assume you wanted to post a photo. Please note that the size must be under 800kb. See viewtopic.php?t=4 for information on how to post pictures.

Adam.

[Eddie-Bug]

Yes, I posted four after reducing them to max 288kB each.

Have now posted again.

[Eddie-Bug]

Here's a better one.

[Johnnyboy]

In the late 1970s, I came across a colony of Wartbiter Crickets, Decticus verrucivorus, living on a rosebush at the end of my brother's garden, next to a mill stream that ran from the River Medway in East Peckham, Kent.

The females were around 2 inches (5cm) in bodylength (if you include the ovipositer). I decided to keep some in an old aquarium, I picked one up and it bit me very severely, the blood was running from my finger and I had to wrap tissue around the tip to soak up the blood. It put me off keeping them as pets so I returned them all to the place I found them. A rather stout, chunky insect.

Of course they were used to bite off warts in years gone by. Interestingly anther insect used to treat warts is the Spanish Fly beetle (Lytta vesicatoria). They secrete a vesicant, the poisonous Cantharadin. This is applied to the wart topically to chemically burn it away. If consumed in small amounts, cantharadin also acts as a sexual stimulant through irritation of the urethral tract.

The Great Green Bushcricket, (Tettigonia viridissima) is even bigger. One of my friends has found them ovipositing on the dunes on the Kent Coast, near Sandwich. The females reach over 7cm in bodylength (including ovipositer) and are the largest cricket found in the UK.



Regards

Johnny

[Eddie-Bug]

Great response

Thanks Johnny

PS/ I assume you agree with the ID?