A male
Roesel's bush-cricket (
Metrioptera roeseli), a European
bush-cricket named after
August Johann Rösel von Rosenhof, a German
entomologist. Its song is very similar to that of
Savi's Warbler. Its body length as an adult insect is 15 to 18 mm. It is brown with a pale margin to the sides of the
pronotum. Its forewings usually reach midway along its abdomen at rest. However there is a
macropterous form of this insect (f.
diluta), in which the wings reach beyond the tip of the abdomen. This form appears predominantly during hot summers and enables the species to extend its geographical range rapidly while conditions are suitable; such migrations may also be in response to local overpopulation.
Photo credit: Richard Bartz