Bug FAQGreat Green Bush-cricket
Tettigonia viridissima · Order: Orthoptera · Family: Tettigoniidae
Source: Wikipedia
The great green bush-cricket is a large, mostly green insect with very long antennae that can be three times its body length. It lives in meadows, grasslands and gardens across most of Europe, the Near East, North Africa and the eastern Palearctic up to about 1,800 m altitude.
Source: Wikipedia
How to recognize it
Adults are usually bright green, sometimes yellowish, and have a rust-coloured band on the top of the body. Their antennae are extremely long and thin, often three times the body length, unlike grasshoppers.
Source: Wikipedia
Size
Males grow to 28 to 36 mm and females to 32 to 42 mm in length.
Source: Wikipedia
Does it bite or sting?
It can bite painfully, especially if held in a fist.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it lives
Found in meadows, grasslands, prairies and sometimes gardens up to 1,800 m elevation.
Source: Wikipedia
What it eats
It mainly eats flies, caterpillars and other larvae.
Source: Wikipedia
Life cycle
Young are green and the adult shows a thin brown stripe along the back. The ovipositor appears from the fifth instar and wings develop from the sixth in both sexes.
Source: Wikipedia
Where it comes from
Its range includes most of Europe, the eastern Palearctic, the Near East and North Africa.
Source: Wikipedia
Lookalikes
It may be confused with T. cantans, which has wings a centimeter shorter than its ovipositor, or T. caudata, whose hind femurs have noticeable black spines.
Source: Wikipedia
Questions people ask
How can I tell it apart from similar crickets?
Look for very long antennae, a rust-coloured dorsal band, and compare wing length to the ovipositor; other species have shorter wings or black spines on the hind femurs.
Source: Wikipedia
Where might I find this bug?
In meadows, grasslands, prairies and gardens across Europe, the Near East, North Africa and the eastern Palearctic, up to about 1,800 m altitude.
Source: Wikipedia
Same family (Tettigoniidae)
Dark Bush-cricketPholidoptera griseoaptera
Mediterranean KatydidPhaneroptera nanaDamages trees, gardens or crops
Fork-tailed Bush KatydidScudderia furcataDamages trees, gardens or crops
Speckled Bush-cricketLeptophyes punctatissima
Roesel's Bush-cricketRoeseliana roeselii
Greater AnglewingMicrocentrum rhombifoliumDamages trees, gardens or cropsSources
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tettigonia_viridissima
Look it up elsewhere: GBIF · iNaturalist · BugGuide · Wikipedia
Text written 2026-10-22 from the sources above and checked sentence by sentence against them. Data fetched 2026-10-22.