The dark bush-cricket colonizes a variety of habitats, but avoids sandy soils and are accordingly rare in sandy areas. It is mainly present in forest edges or clearings, but can be found also in wasteland, parks and gardens, at an elevation of about 0–2,100 metres (0–6,890 ft) above sea level.
The females lay their eggs in the soil, in dead branches, in bark crevices and rotting wood. The eggs need high humidity. The larvae require two years for their full development, with seven larval stages. They feed exclusively on vegetables. Nymphs appear at the end of April of the third year, while the first adults appear in June.
The rounded brachypterous wings of the males are brown with light brown to ochre-coloured edges and are about 5 mm in length (about as long as the pronotum). The females are almost wingless or have half-round, grey-brown fore-wings that are 1-2 mm long. Long-winged (macropterous) forms are not recorded.
Pholidoptera griseoaptera