Silent Bush Cricket - Riatina sp. or Aphonoides sp.

Family GRYLLIDAE

This page contains pictures and information about the Silent Bush Crickets that we found in the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia. They are also known as Narrow Bush Crickets and Graceful Silent Bush Crickets.


Body length 30mm

Bush Cricket of genus Aphonoides or Riatina are usually pale in colour, like this one. They do not have the stridulatory apparatus, i.e., they do not make any sound like other crickets and katydids do. Most of them live on leaves in rainforests, although we found this one in Eucalypt Forest.



Mid summer in Karawatha Forest, we found this Tree Cricket hiding under leaf during the day. It walked away slowly when we disturbed. It is pale brown in colour. It has very long antenna, longer than twice the body length.




Last instars

Reference:
1. Grasshopper Country - the Abundant Orthopteroid Insects of Australia, D Rentz, UNSW Press, 1996, p144.
2. Aphonoides angustissimus - Australian Insect Common Names, CSIRO,16 June 2005.
3. Northern Territory Insects, A Comprehensive Guide CD - Graham Brown, 2009, (Riatina sp.)