Conehead

A bit harsh, I think. OK, it is a bit cone-shaped, but I'm not sure it's that much more pointy than the head of yesterday's Meadow Grasshopper, and we're certainly nowhere near Dan Ackroyd territory. But they didn't ask me when they named it, and we are where we are.

So anyway, this is a female Long-Winged Conehead: Conocephalus fuscus. (Bonus fun fact: in Latin, 'conus' can mean the apex of a helmet.) We know she's female because of that splendid ovipositor, which looks more like a cavalry sword than an implement for injecting tiny eggs into plant stems, especially as she bites into the stem first, to create a hole. I'd be interested to see what happens between the biting part and the actual oviposition, because I can imagine there's quite a bit of manoeuvring involved.

But, I hear you objecting, au Boy Wonder. 

But?

But she's got short wings. 

Yes she has, I reply smugly (as if I knew all this without having to look it up), but that's because she's a nymph. Nymphs of the Short-winged Conehead (Conocephalus dorsalis) are similar, but smaller, and in females the ovipositor is shorter and more curved. Looking at the images in my Orthoptera guide, and knowing that adult Long-winged Coneheads start to appear at the end of July, I'm pretty confident that this is a final instar nymph, and that she'll soon undergo her final moult. She'll then have long wings and a brown stripe along her back, rather than this black one, and her ovipositor will also change from black to brown. She's already quite an impressive size, as you can judge from the onion grass seedhead on which I photographed her, but as an adult she's likely to be a little over 2cm long.

Historically this species was considered extremely rare in the UK, and was confined to southern coastal districts. Over the last fifty years though, it has dramatically broadened its habitat choices, and has spread rapidly northwards across most of England, turning up everywhere from wetlands, to woodland clearings, to dry grassland. But despite this, and its size, its shyness and cryptic colouring mean that you're unlikely to come across it very often. I see them from time to time in Trench Wood and Grafton Wood, but this is only the second specimen I've ever recorded in the village.

R: C3, D20.