The behaviour of semi-dilute wormlike micelle solutions under vertical vibrations is investigated using classical measurements of the Faraday instability threshold along with two new experiments based on particle imaging velocimetry and birefringence. We provide evidence for the presence of oscillations of the critical acceleration and wave number with the vibration frequency, which are linked to oscillations of the velocity and birefringence fields along the vertical direction. These observations are interpreted in terms of standing elastic waves across the fluid layer. Such an interpretation is confirmed numerically by using the model proposed by Kumar [S. Kumar, Vibration-induced interfacial instabilities in viscoelastic fluids, Phys. Rev. E 65 (2002) 026305] for a viscoelastic fluid to calculate the velocity and deformation fields. Finally, further birefringence experiments above the instability threshold show that the Faraday instability does not induce disentanglement and breakage of the micellar network. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.