Long Winged Cone-head - Conocephalus fuscus

Alternative names
Conocephalus discolor
Description

This is a small Bush-cricket, named for the angled shape of its head. It is a slender green insect. The adult has brown wings which extend beyond the tip of the abdomen and brown stripe along the back. The nymphs have short wings and the stripe along the back is black.

Identification difficulty
Habitat

Coarse vegetation and rough grassland, urban wasteland, marshes, coastal reedbeds, dry heaths and bogs.

When to see it

Nymphs emerge in late May and June. Adults present from August until early winter.

Life History

Omnivorous, feeding on grasses as well as small insects. Females bite a hole in hollow stems of grass, reed or rush, and then insert an egg with their ovipositor.

UK Status

Once considered so rare in Britain that it was on the Red Data List, it has now spread but is still found mainly from the English Midlands southwards.

VC55 Status

Fairly frequent now in Leicestershire and Rutland.

Further Information

A wetland species first recorded in Leicestershire at Aylestone Meadows in 2001 and in Rutland from Rutland Water in 2003; spreading rapidly.

Leicestershire & Rutland Map

MAP KEY:

Yellow squares = NBN records (all known data)
Coloured circles = NatureSpot records: 2020+ | 2015-2019 | pre-2015

UK Map

Species profile

Common names
Long-winged Cone-head, Long-Winged Conehead
Species group:
Grasshoppers & Crickets
Kingdom:
Animalia
Order:
Orthoptera
Family:
Conocephalidae
Records on NatureSpot:
109
First record:
31/07/2009 (Calow, Graham)
Last record:
05/09/2023 (Bell, Melinda)

Total records by month

% of records within its species group

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