cricket¹

 

common name of the slender, chirping, hopping insects forming the family Gryllidae in the order Orthoptera. Most crickets have long antennae, muscular hind legs for jumping, and two pairs of fully developed wings. In some subfamilies the wings are reduced or absent.

In most subfamilies the males have song-producing, or stridulatory, organs on the front wings. Both sexes possess auditory organs on the forelegs. The stridulatory apparatus is most highly developed in the field crickets and the tree crickets. Members of these subfamilies have a ridged region, which acts as a file, and a hardened region, which acts as a scraper, on each front wing; sound is produced by rubbing the wings together.

Crickets reproduce sexually, producing from one to three generations per year. The females usually lay eggs in the ground or in soft-stemmed plants during the late summer or fall. The eggs hatch in the spring and the emerging young are similar to the adults except for their smaller size and lack of wings.

Crickets occur mostly in the temperate climates. The common field crickets of the United States are species of the genus Gryllus; all are brown to black, about 1 in. (2.5 cm) long, and are found in fields and meadows and often in houses. The tree crickets are slender, pale green or whitish insects of trees and shrubs; most U.S. species belong to the genus Oecanthus. The rate of chirping of tree crickets increases with increasing temperature. In the snowy tree cricket, Oecanthus fultoni, this variation is so regular that if the number 40 is added to the number of chirps per 15-sec interval, the sum is a fair approximation of the temperature in degrees Fahrenheit. Ant-loving crickets are tiny wingless forms ¹/₈ in. to ¹/₅ in. (3–5 mm) long that occur in ant nests, where they feed on an oily secretion produced by the ants.

In addition to the true crickets of the family Gryllidae, insects of the family Gryllacrididae are also called crickets. These are the cave, or camel, crickets, found throughout the world in dark, moist places, and the stone, sand, or Jerusalem crickets of W North America, found under stones in sandy soil. Mole crickets (genus Gryllotalpa, family Gryllotalpidae) are nocturnal insects that have strong front legs adapted for digging and burrowing rather than strong hind legs for jumping. They live in moist soil. All crickets belong to the phylum Arthropoda, class Insecta, order Orthoptera.

Gryllidae
The common black cricket, Gryllus assimilis
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Arthropoda Class: Insecta Order: Orthoptera Suborder: Ensifera Superfamily: Grylloidea Family: Gryllidae Bolívar, 1878
Subfamilies
See Taxonomy section

Crickets, family Gryllidae (also known as "true crickets"), are insects somewhat related to grasshoppers and more closely related to katydids or bush crickets (family Tettigoniidae). They have somewhat flattened bodies and long antennae.

Crickets are known for their chirp (which only male crickets can do; male wings have ridges or "teeth" that act like a "comb and file" instrument). The left forewing has a thick rib (a modified vein) which bears 50 to 300 "teeth". The chirp is generated by raising their left forewing to a 45 degree angle and rubbing it against the upper hind edge of the right forewing, which has a thick scraper (Berenbaum 1995). This sound producing action is called "stridulation" and the song is species-specific. There are two types of cricket songs: a calling song and a courting song. The calling song attracts females and repels other males, and is fairly loud. The courting song is used when a female cricket is near, and is a very quiet song. Female crickets have a long needlelike egg-laying organ (ovipositor).

Crickets chirp at different rates depending on their species and the temperature of their environment. Most species chirp at higher rates the higher the temperature is (approx. 60 chirps a minute at 13°C in one common species; each species has its own rate). The relationship between temperature and the rate of chirping is known as Dolbear's Law. In fact, according to this law, it is possible to calculate the temperature in Fahrenheit by adding 40 to the number of chirps produced in 15 seconds by the snowy tree cricket common in the United States.

To hear the mating call of other crickets, a cricket has ears located on its knees, just below the joint of the front legs.

There are about 900 species of crickets. They tend to be nocturnal and are often confused with grasshoppers, with which they are related, because they have a similar body structure including jumping hind legs.

In 1970, Dr. William H. Cade discovered that the parasitic tachinid fly Ormia ochracea is attracted to the song of the male cricket, and uses it to locate the male in order to deposit her larvae on him. It was the first example of a natural enemy that locates its host or prey using the mating signal. Since then, many species of crickets have been found to be carrying the same parasitic fly, or related species.

New genus

What appears to be a cricket of a previously unknown genus was discovered within a cave in Grand Canyon Parashant National Monument, on the Utah-Arizona border, in 2005. Its most distinctive characteristic is that it has functional grasping claws (cerci) on its posterior. Their use has not been determined, though it's quite possibly for reproduction. [1]

Diet and life cycle

Crickets are omnivores and scavengers feeding on organic materials, as well as decaying plant material, fungi, and some seedling plants. Crickets mate in late summer and lay their eggs in the fall. The eggs hatch in the spring and they usually hatch in groups of 2,000.^{[citation needed]}

Popular culture

Crickets are popular pets and are considered good luck in Asia, especially China where they are kept in cages (Carrera 1991). It is also common to have them as caged pets in some European countries, particularly in the Iberian Peninsula. Cricket fighting as a gambling or sports betting pastime also occurs, particularly in Macao.

The folklore and mythology surrounding crickets is extensive. ^[1]

The singing of crickets in the folklore of Brazil and elsewhere is sometimes taken to be a sign of impending rain, or of a financial windfall. In Brazilian history, the sudden chirping of a cricket heralded the sighting of land for the crew of captain Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, just as their water supply had run out. (Lenko and Papavero 1996).

In Caraguatatuba, Brazil, a black cricket in a room is said to portend illness; a gray one, money; and a green one, hope (Lenko and Papavero 1996). In Alagoas state, northeast Brazil, a cricket announces death, thus it is killed if it chirps in a house (Araújo 1977). In the village of Capueiruçu, Bahia State, a constantly chirping cricket foretells pregnancy, but if it pauses, money is expected (K.L.G. Lima, unpublished data). The mole cricket locally known as "paquinha", "jeguinho", "cachorrinho-d'água", or "cava-chão" (genera Scapteriscus and Neocurtilla, Gryllotalpidae) is said to predict rain when it digs into the ground (Fowler 1994).

In Barbados, a loud cricket means money is coming in; hence, a cricket must not be killed or evicted if it chirps inside a house. However, another type of cricket that is less noisy forebodes illness or death. (Forde 1988) In Zambia, the Gryllotalpa africanus cricket is held to bring good fortune to anyone who sees it (Mbata 1999).

Crickets may also be eaten in some cultures, and are popular as live food for carnivorous pets.

In comedy, the sound of crickets may be used to humorously indicate a dead silence when a response or activity is expected. For example, if a comedian in a TV show tells a bad joke, instead of the audience laughing, crickets may chirp.

The Disney corporation has used a number of notable cricket characters in their animated movies through the ages. Most of these characters represent good. For example, in the movie Pinocchio, Jiminy Cricket is honored with the position of the title character's conscience. In Mulan, Cri-kee is carried in a cage as a symbol of luck, as in many Asian countries.

A species of cricket (Gryllus chinensis weber) that Vietnamese called "dế mèn" became the main character of a famous Vietnamese chidren's story: "Dế Mèn phiêu lưu ký" (meaning: "Diary of the Dế Mèn's adventure"), written by Tô Hoài. Dế Mèn goes around the Insect World to propagate for peace. Although the notion of peace and the method for attaining it in this story is very simple and innocent, it is suitable for encouraging chidren's awareness of the wider insect world around them.

Taxonomy

Subfamilies of the family Gryllidae:

• Eneopterinae —
• Gryllinae — common or field crickets; brown or black; despite the name, some of them enter houses (e.g. Acheta domesticus, the house cricket)
• Nemobiinae — ground crickets
• Oecanthinae — tree crickets; usually green with broad, transparent wings; frequent trees and shrubs.
• Phalangopsinae
• Podoscirtinae — anomalous crickets
• Pteroplistinae
• Trigonidiinae — sword-tail crickets

In addition to the above subfamilies in the family Gryllidae, several other orthopteran groups outside of this family also may be called "crickets":

• Mogoplistidae — scaly crickets
• Myrmecophilidae — ant crickets
• Mole crickets
• Tettigoniidae - katydids or bush crickets
• Cave crickets (also called camel crickets)
• Sand crickets
• Mormon crickets
• Weta crickets
• Jerusalem crickets
• Parktown prawns

Australian brown field cricket

Footnotes

See also

• Insect fighting
• Nematomorpha
• G. W. Pierce

External links

• Intro on house crickets
• How to raise your own crickets
• Crickets in the Classroom drawings and activities
• [2]
• The cricket suicide (video)
• Singing Insects of North America An online field guide

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