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Sticker of Wart-biter
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Wart-biter

Decticus verrucivorus
Name means: “Long ago in Sweden, people let it nibble their warts to get rid of them”
Eats: A bit of everythingGrasshoppers and cricketsGardens and meadows6 legs

The wart-biter is a big, shiny green bush-cricket with brown blotches, perfect for hiding in long grass. It has long feelers and strong back legs. It got its funny name because long ago in Sweden people let it nibble their warts.

Lives in
Most of Europe and temperate Asia as far as China, in warm grassland and heathland
Length
3.1 to 3.7 cm (1.2 to 1.5 in)
Top speed
about 4.1 km/h (2.5 mph)
On foot, estimate
Can it hurt you?
Can bite or sting
It can give a nip with its strong jaws if you grab it. It is not dangerous, so just watch it.
What does it eat?
It eats plants like knapweed, nettles and bedstraw, and it also catches other insects, such as grasshoppers.
For real!Photo of Wart-biter
Picture by xulescu_g. CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

How big is it?

How long is it?

Wart-biter about 3.7 cm long (1.5 in)A toy building brick about 3.2 cm (1.3 in)A crayon about 9 cm (3.5 in)A banana about 18 cm (7.1 in)
as long as 6 grains of rice in a rowcould run across a dinner table in 0.9 secondsmoves 31 times its own body length every second

How big is Wart-biter compared to YOU?

Just maths in your browser. Nothing is saved or sent anywhere.

How fast is it?

cool stuff

Fun facts

1

It only sings in sunny weather. Its song is a row of clicks that starts slowly and gets faster and faster.

2

It usually walks. It only flies when it is frightened, and then just 3 or 4 metres.

3

Its eggs wait in the soil for two whole winters before they hatch.

4

A newly hatched baby is wrapped in a thin skin that keeps its legs and feelers tight while it digs up to the surface.

5

In Britain it lives in only a handful of places and is in danger of dying out there.

you asked

Most asked questions about Wart-biter

?Why is it called the wart-biter?

In Sweden long ago, people let it nibble at their warts to get rid of them. Its scientific name means wart-eater too.

?Does the wart-biter bite?

It can give a nip with its strong jaws if you hold it, but it is not dangerous.

?What does the wart-biter eat?

Both plants and small insects, like grasshoppers.

For bug experts

Scientific name
Decticus verrucivorus
Named by
Linnaeus, 1758
Group
Grasshoppers and crickets
Family
Tettigoniidae
Classification
Insecta > Orthoptera > Tettigoniidae
Lives on
Europe, Asia

Where the facts come from

  1. Wart-biter (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0): what it looks like, where it lives, what it eats, sizes and fun facts, retold in simple words.
  2. Picture by xulescu_g. CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons. The round sticker of this bug is cut from the same picture.

If we got something wrong, sorry, we are bug fans, not a science journal. Tell us at [email protected] and we will fix it.

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