Conocephalus dorsalis: Short-winged conehead
This rather slim, elegant and medium-sized, green bush cricket is common in coastal and
estuarine habitats although it does occur in some inland locations, particularly on reeds
and rushes surrounding marshes and ponds.
A very soft, quiet stridulation, unheard by many, means a thorough search of Saltmarsh,
tall coastal grasses (in particular Elytrigia atherica) and reeds, will be necessary to reveal
its presence. More likely to 'sit it out" if discovered than the previous species, it is able
to stretch out its fore and hind legs to make itself very slim and narrow looking as it
"hugs" a grass stem. To photograph C.dorsalis requires great patience as it will rapidly
turn around the stem as one approaches. With two people in place however, one on
either side of the stem, it may be encouraged to sit very still and may be photographed
with relative ease.
As with M. roeselii, there is a long-winged form of this insect f.burri, and care must be
taken with correct identification. The insect with which it can easily be confused is
Conocephalus discolor known as the Long-winged conehead, and the difference between
them is easily seen only in the female of the species. C. discolor has a long, almost
straight ovipositor whilst in C. dorsalis f.burri the ovipositor is slightly shorter and is
curved upwards. Although C. dorsalis has a preference for coastal habitats, it is worth
searching all inland marshes and ponds with good stands of reeds and rushes, such as
the Malting Green pond close to Colchester, where it has been located in reasonable
numbers. A bat detector, modified to pick up the frequencies of Orthoptera, is providing
some interesting records of this insect in neighbouring Hertfordshire.
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