Snowy tree cricket

Insect

Snowy tree cricket

Oecanthus fultoni Walker

Orthoptera: Gryllidae

Distribution: Most fruit-growing states and provinces in eastern North America.

Photos

Adults eat holes in ripe fruit. NY State Ag Experiment Station
C

Adult somewhat resembles a field cricket, but is pale green in color and has a longer, more slender body and smaller head. Antennae are much longer than the body; males have stiff veins in their flat wings (A). Nymphs look similar to adults, but are more pale and slender, without fully developed wings.

Crops Affected: apples, cherries, peaches, plums

Damage

Attacks apple, also plum, peach and cherry. Female drills a pin-size hole up to the cambium of twigs to deposit an egg, usually making a single row of punctures along one side, and sealing each with excrement or chewed plant tissue after the egg is laid (B). Punctures are often entry sites for canker-producing fungi and other pathogens. The adult causes further injury by eating holes in ripe fruits (C), which can subsequently rot.

Management

Normally not a serious problem in regularly sprayed orchards. Elimination of weedy alternate hosts, such as brambles, will reduce chances of orchard infestations.