Wart-biter

Description

The wart-biter is a large orthopteran insect of the bush-cricket family, that is a long-antennaed cricket. It has a robust, stocky body, bright green or yellowish, densely mottled with dark brown. It has large hind legs suited to jumping and powerful jaws. Females bear a long sabre-shaped ovipositor.

Habitat and distribution

It occurs across much of Eurasia. It frequents meadows, pastures and open, sunny clearings, often in hilly and mountainous habitats rich in tall grass and scrub. It favours habitats that are not intensively farmed.

Behaviour and song

It is an omnivorous insect: it feeds on other insects, which it hunts actively, but also on plant matter. It is active by day, when the males utter a characteristic song, a series of short repeated 'ticks' produced by rubbing the wings. With its powerful jaws it can give a firm bite if handled.

Did you know?

Its curious name, both common and scientific ('verrucivorus', meaning 'wart-eater'), comes from an old folk practice, especially Swedish, of letting the insect bite warts, in the hope that its acidic digestive juices would make them disappear.

Notes and conservation

It is a cricket tied to open, well-preserved grassland. In some regions, such as the United Kingdom, it has become rare and protected due to the loss and fragmentation of these habitats through agricultural intensification.