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Sticker of Large tree-cricket
Bug card No. 2538 of 4,939

Large tree-cricket

Oecanthus dulcisonans
Name means: “the sweet-sounding one, because of its song”
Eats: A bit of everythingGrasshoppers and cricketsGardens and meadows6 legs

The large tree-cricket is a slim, yellowish cricket that likes to sing from trees. Its song is a long, strong and pretty trill that does not stop. It loves warm, sunny places around the Mediterranean Sea and in the Middle East.

Lives in
Around the Mediterranean Sea, the Canary Islands and the Middle East
Length
1.3 to 1.6 cm (0.51 to 0.63 in)
females are a little bigger than males
Top speed
about 2.7 km/h (1.7 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Harmless
Harmless. It does not sting and is not dangerous to people.
What does it eat?
It eats a bit of everything, but mostly other small animals.
For real!Photo of Large tree-cricket
Picture by CesareBrizio. CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Large tree-cricket about 1.6 cm long (0.63 in)A grain of rice about 6 mm (0.24 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)
as long as 2.5 grains of rice in a rowcould run across a dinner table in 1.3 secondsmoves 47 times its own body length every second

How big is Large tree-cricket compared to YOU?

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How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

It is very hard to find by listening. It can lift its wings higher or lower, so the sound seems to come from somewhere else.

2

It is most busy at night, and it is sometimes drawn to lamps.

3

Its back wings are much longer than its front wings.

4

It lays its eggs inside the stems of plants.

5

You can hear grown-ups singing from July or August until early autumn.

you asked

Most asked questions about Large tree-cricket

?What does the large tree-cricket sound like?

It makes a long, strong and pretty trill that goes on without stopping.

?Where does the large tree-cricket live?

Around the Mediterranean Sea, for example in Italy, Sardinia and Sicily, on the Canary Islands and in the Middle East.

?How big is the large tree-cricket?

Males are about 13 to 15 millimetres long and females about 14 to 16 millimetres.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Oecanthus dulcisonans
Group
Grasshoppers and crickets
Family
Gryllidae
Classification
Insecta > Orthoptera > Gryllidae
Lives on
Europe, Africa, Asia

Where the facts come from

  1. Oecanthus dulcisonans (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by CesareBrizio. CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons. The sticker of this bug is drawn from this picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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