Taxonomy
Male (left) and female (right) southern oak bush-crickets showing their pale green colouring with yellow dorsal stripe and the pair of brown marks on back of pronotum. © Benton
Meconema meridionale was first described by A Costa in 1860. The cricket has:
- a pale green body with a yellow dorsal stripe from the head to the tip of abdomen
- a pair of brown marks on back of the pronotum
- the male has long cerci
- adults of both sexes are brachypterous and hence flightless
Size
- total body length - male: 11–13mm, female: 11.5–16mm
- fore wing length - male 1.5–2mm, female 1.2–2mm
- male cerci - 4mm
- ovipositor - 7.5–8mm
Look-alikes
As young nymphs, the southern oak bush-cricket is indistinguishable from its close relative the fully winged oak bush-cricket, Meconema thalassinum (De Geer).
Meconema thalassinum is a widely distributed European species and is common in the British Isles south of a line drawn between the Dee and Humber estuaries.
