Species map 2. Great green bush-cricket. Sussex Orthoptera - Online Atlas
For ease of comparison with Haes and Harding (1997), records are shown as: pre-1970, 1970-1999 and as 2000 (onwards). The eventual aim is to update all maps as completely as possible with records for 2001 onwards, to show the status of Sussex orthopteroids in the first decade of the new millennium. Records shown for boundary squares may pertain to neighbouring counties.
Great green bush-cricket, Tettigonia viridissima (Linnaeus, 1758)
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pre-1970
please email additions, corrections or updates
1970-1999
2000 (onwards)
In West Sussex, locally common; more widespread in East Sussex along the coast and on the South Downs in scrubland. Easily detected because of the loud calling song of the male. Sometimes attracted to light. In the hot summer of 1995, a female was found inside an open window at the Royal Sussex County Hospital, Brighton. This species shows evidence of dispersal during warm weather: in July 1998, the author heard an isolated male calling from a garden hedge in Upper Beeding, miles from the nearest known colony. However,the species shows little sign extending its range on a long term basis from well established colonies which are vulnerable to changes in land use. It was recorded at Mill Hill, Shoreham in 1997 and 1999 but not in 1998 and may occur there only in odd-years. The life cycle lasts two years as eggs pass two winters before hatching.