Great Green Bush Cricket

The great green bush cricket is the largest bush cricket species found in much of Europe, easily recognized by its vivid grass-green body and a distinctive brown stripe running along the top of its back and head. Its powerful hind legs and long antennae make it well suited to life in dense grassland and scrub, where its coloration provides excellent camouflage.

This species is widespread across southern and central Europe, favoring warm, sunny grassland, hedgerows, and scrub habitats, and is well known for the loud, sustained, buzzing song produced by males on warm summer evenings, one of the loudest insect calls in the region. As one of the larger bush cricket species, it has robust jaws and, if handled, may deliver a firm defensive nip.

• Large body size for a bush cricket, with adults reaching 3.2-4.2 cm and females extending further with a long ovipositor
• Bright grass-green coloration overall, with a brown stripe running along the top of the thorax and head
• Long, thread-like antennae extending well beyond the body length
• Females bear a long, slightly curved, blade-like ovipositor at the rear of the abdomen
• Wings are long and extend past the abdomen at rest
• Distinguished from smaller green bush crickets by its considerably larger size and the loud, sustained nature of its call

The great green bush cricket is found across much of southern, western, and central Europe, including the UK, France, and Mediterranean countries, favoring warm grassland, hedgerows, scrubland, and sometimes gardens with dense vegetation. It is most active and vocal during warm summer nights, typically from mid-summer into early autumn, when temperatures are highest.

This species is largely nocturnal, with males producing a loud, continuous, buzzing song from within dense vegetation on warm evenings to attract females, a call that can carry a considerable distance and is one of the most recognizable insect sounds of European summer nights. It is omnivorous, feeding on a mix of plant material and small invertebrates, including other insects, making it more predatory than many other bush cricket species. During the day it remains hidden among grass and shrubs, relying on its green coloration for camouflage, and it can deliver a firm defensive bite with its strong mandibles if handled. Within its ecosystem, it serves as both a predator of smaller insects and prey for birds and other larger predators.

Females use their long ovipositor to insert eggs into soil, where they overwinter before hatching the following spring. Nymphs emerge resembling small, wingless versions of the adult and pass through several molts over the summer, developing wing pads that become fully functional wings by the final molt in mid to late summer. There is no pupal stage, consistent with incomplete metamorphosis. Adults are typically active from midsummer through early autumn, representing a single generation per year in most of its range.