Sia ferox is a very large, robust and powerful bush cricket, the huge head and jaws are like insect bolt cutters. I have a pair of dead specimens, the female from Java and the male from N. Borneo, in my collection and the female rivals the largest Wetas in size and weight. There is another species of predatory bush cricket that is similar in size and strength, the Giant saw-legged bush cricket
Saga ephippigera syriaca. Large females can have a leg span of over 20cm and it is known to catch and eat birds and lizards as well as large tarantulas. This subspecies,
syriaca, is found in Eastern Turkey and Northern Syria. I have a few species of Saginae in my collection and some are beautifully patterned. Only one species of the Saginae is found in Western Europe,the CITES protected
Saga pedo. It is unusual as it is the only parthenogenic member of the genus with generally only females found although males do occur on occasion. Eastern and Southern Europe do have other species including the impressive
Saga natoliae, the largest European species.
The Lebanese entomologist Andre Kairouz told me about a large pet scorpion he had. He asked a friend to bring a grasshopper from the local meadows to feed it with and the friend duly obliged. They placed the small green grasshopper in with the scorpion. Sometime later, Andre checked to see if the victim had been eaten. It had, only the victim was the large scorpion, only a few scattered scorpion parts remained and there was one very fat young "grasshopper" alive and well in the vivarium. Only then did he realise that it was in fact a nymph of one of the large
Saginae crickets (probably
Saga ornata which is found in Lebanon) This shows just what formidable predators the Saga crickets are. Long legs give them an extra strength advantage as long muscle, weight for weight, is more effective than short, bulky muscle.
Johnny
