Dr. Martin Rundkvist is a Swedish archaeologist, journal editor, public speaker, chairman of the Swedish Skeptics Society, atheist, lefty liberal, bookworm, and father of two.
Last night when I turned out the lights, something the size of a mouse jumped out of a lamp. We've had a bit of summer heat lately, and the balcony door has been open a lot. The creature turned out to be a wart-biter Great Green Bush-cricket female (Dectius verrucivorus Tettigonia viridissima), longer than my little finger and shiny green. I put a plastic box over her and slid a paper under before shooting photos and releasing her into the night. While in the box, she assiduously cleaned her toes with her jaws. A welcome visit.
[More blog entries about insects, photos; insekter, foto, fotografi.]
Comments
Sorry to correct you on that, but this is not the wart-biter but rather the Great Green Bush-cicket Tettigonia viridissima.
Nice pictures, especially the first one!
Posted by: Hauke | August 12, 2007 6:34 AM
Thank you for setting me straight. I thought it might be a viridissima (it was indeed exceptionally green), but the long pointy butt wasn't there on the viridissima pics I found on the net.
Posted by: Martin R | August 12, 2007 11:54 AM
Either way, it makes me homesing...we used to have lots of those, and now my family thinks I'm nuts when I ask them if they've ever seen a wart biter.
Posted by: Christina | August 12, 2007 5:12 PM
The "long pointy butt" means that it's a girl, Martin. :)
Posted by: windy | August 12, 2007 8:26 PM
Christina, anyone who's ever breastfed a 12-month baby should be painfully familiar with wart biters. (-;
Windy, thank, that I did gather from the pix. The pix are of course just an excuse to show off some primo booty.
Posted by: Martin R | August 13, 2007 3:06 AM
We have found what we now think, is a wart biter. It lloks like a cricket and is about two and a half inches long. Are these rare, it's the first one we have seen in the West Country?
Posted by: Joseph Jackson | September 6, 2008 11:18 AM
Sorry, Joseph, I know little about insects and I don't even know in which country the West Country is.
Posted by: Martin R | September 7, 2008 3:27 PM