Tettigonia

Tettigonia
Young female Tettigonia viridissima
Scientific classification Edit this classification
Domain: Eukaryota
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Orthoptera
Suborder: Ensifera
Family: Tettigoniidae
Tribe: Tettigoniini
Genus: Tettigonia
Linnaeus, 1758
Synonyms
  • Eumenymus Pictet, 1888
  • Locusta Fabricius, 1775
  • Phasgonura Stephens, 1835

Tettigonia is the type genus of bush crickets belonging to the subfamily Tettigoniinae.[1] The scientific name Tettigonia is onomatopoeic and derives from the Greek τεττιξ, meaning cicada.

Species of this genus are typically quite large insects, with relatively massive bodies, green or brownish colour and long hindlegs. For example, great green bush-crickets, the type species described by Carl Linnaeus in his landmark 1758 10th edition of Systema Naturae, are the largest Orthopterans in the British Isles.[2]

Most Tettigonia species are present in Europe, North Africa and the Asian mainland, apart from Tettigonia orientalis which occurs in Japan.[3]

  1. ^ Linnaeus, C. (1758). Systema Naturae per Regna tria naturae (10th ed.) 1: 429.
  2. ^ Ragge, D. R. (1965). Grasshoppers, Crickets & Cockroaches of the British Isles. Frederick Warne & Co. p. 299.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference OSF was invoked but never defined (see the help page).