Size is Difficult - _TNY_7435
The size of insects and spiders is difficult. Not only does our eyes struggle quite a lot with measuring small sizes by eyesight alone - but
on top of that, there is the issue of what to measure.
For spiders for instance, it's boy length which is the corect way and yet many talk about leg span and citing huge numbers. The obvious problem with this is to convince every spider to stretch their legs out all the way so they can be measured. Sure it would work for a house spider or a huntsman - but how about an orb-weaver? Not likely.
Bush crickets (Tettigoniidae) are another one that's confusing people. When measuring body length, the ovipositor which the female uses to lay eggs isn't counted into body length and neither the wings which extend quite a lot behind the body (and above the ovipositor). I've had more than one discussion with people claiming they have find a specimen twice as long as they should be!
So, the green giant in this shot is a wart-biter (Decticus verrucivorus) - a verruca-vore :). This is based on an old Swedish myth that if you held one of these next to your wart or verruca and managed to get the poor animal to bite it - it would make the wart go away. I suppose Carl Linnaeus believed that one.
Here in Sweden, the entire family of Tettigoniidae are known as wart-biters, but I believe in English it is just this species.
Oh, and as we were talking about sizes - this one is about 45 mm in body length, but as you can see, the wings and ovipositor continue for quite a bit behind the actual body.
Size is Difficult - _TNY_7435
The size of insects and spiders is difficult. Not only does our eyes struggle quite a lot with measuring small sizes by eyesight alone - but
on top of that, there is the issue of what to measure.
For spiders for instance, it's boy length which is the corect way and yet many talk about leg span and citing huge numbers. The obvious problem with this is to convince every spider to stretch their legs out all the way so they can be measured. Sure it would work for a house spider or a huntsman - but how about an orb-weaver? Not likely.
Bush crickets (Tettigoniidae) are another one that's confusing people. When measuring body length, the ovipositor which the female uses to lay eggs isn't counted into body length and neither the wings which extend quite a lot behind the body (and above the ovipositor). I've had more than one discussion with people claiming they have find a specimen twice as long as they should be!
So, the green giant in this shot is a wart-biter (Decticus verrucivorus) - a verruca-vore :). This is based on an old Swedish myth that if you held one of these next to your wart or verruca and managed to get the poor animal to bite it - it would make the wart go away. I suppose Carl Linnaeus believed that one.
Here in Sweden, the entire family of Tettigoniidae are known as wart-biters, but I believe in English it is just this species.
Oh, and as we were talking about sizes - this one is about 45 mm in body length, but as you can see, the wings and ovipositor continue for quite a bit behind the actual body.