This Great Green Bush-cricket
Tettigonia viridissima is perfectly camouflaged in amongst the burgeoning grapes in August. It's not threat to the grapes -- probably the reverse, as it is carnivorous and will catch and eat almost any other insect it can grab in its hook lined legs.
6 comments:
Them thar sauterelles sure saved our spuds... I'd seen that damage before in 2011... but no sign of Colorado... so didn't link the two until this year when the spuds were crawling with bush crickets and I did see a few orange b'stards. I collected, photographed and destroyed the ones I saw... but as there was an adult around [that you thoght had probably dropped to the ground when I made a grab for it]... I'm certain the crickets got the rest!!
Merci, you big green carnivore.
Tim: Maybe that's why I don't get Colorado beetle too -- it hadn't occurred to me.
Well spotted. A+ for observational skills!
Susan, it could well be.... and the people who cover their plants in nasty, powerful insecticides end up killing off the sauterelles as well... lets face it, the Colorado has been around in Europe long enough for something to have a go, surely... I ended up catching sauterelles in the meadow and transporting them to the spuds to do their work... that might have helped as well?
Well... thank you RonRon... that's what you've been chasing grasshoppers for.... and there was I thinking you were just playing!!
Tim: LOL. I've just been sent a story about Paul Leroy putting together a terrarium of insects for a display in the early days of the Assoc Botanique. It included one of these guys and by the time the display opened it had eaten everything else in the cage :-)
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