How does a grasshopper chirp?

What sounds do beetles make?

The length of the insect is 7-16mm. The yellow-spotted longhorned beetle has an interesting feature: if disturbed, it makes a creaking sound. Like other species of longhorned beetles that produce sounds, the beetle uses a stridulatory apparatus that works on the “comb and nail” principle.

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Frame and mirror

Contrary to popular belief, grasshoppers do not make any sounds with their paws. The stinging apparatus of insects of the order Orthoptera, which, by the way, includes not only grasshoppers, but also locusts and crickets, is located on the upper leathery pair of wings (elytra). Insects produce acoustic signals by rubbing the vein of one elytra (frame or bow) against another elytra, which is called a mirror.

It is interesting that in different species of Orthoptera the structure of the stridulatory apparatus is different, which allows them to produce different trills. If the beat frequency of the vein coincides with the vibration frequency of the second elytra, then the resonance of the sound system emits pure sound signals. If there is no correspondence, the insect’s trills are heard as separate clicks. Experienced chirping entomologists are able to determine which insect is producing it.

Why is he doing this?

Of course, nature tried for a reason. The complex structure of the elytra is given to crickets in order to simplify one of the most important purposes of the existence of individuals - leaving behind offspring. Therefore, males sing only during the mating season.

Why do crickets chirp? Musical abilities are given to them for communication with each other and for solving three problems at once:

The most important purpose of singing is to invite females to take part in procreation.
The mating song of a cricket is the most ear-pleasing “work” in the insect’s repertoire. It sounds unobtrusive, but at the same time very melodic. The male either makes ringing sounds or begins to crackle or buzz. It is not limited to singing alone: the trill is accompanied by a mating dance, in which even the mustache is involved. Several females may live on the territory of a male or in the neighborhood, and with his melodies he tries to keep them around him. Female crickets are not always loyal. If a new male who has settled nearby begins to emit a special and loud singing, then she may change her gentleman.
Marking the boundaries of your site. Crickets are characterized by solitary living, and each male has his own territory, in which he can allow several females to live. To make it clear to strangers that the area is occupied by it, the cricket emits shrill signals warning possible rivals.
If a skirmish could not be avoided, then the male tries to influence the enemy with sharp but loud sounds. Crickets are very aggressive. If two individuals get into a fight, then there is a high probability of the death of one of them. In this case, the winner can eat the loser. In the best case, the fight ends with the loss of antennae, legs or wings. In such a fight, the chirping is a kind of battle cry, designed to suppress the opponent and frighten him.

Only sexually mature individuals are capable of making sounds. Young males learn to do this by imitating their adult neighbors.

Where can you listen to cricket?

To get acquainted with the singing of crickets, just go out of town in the summer. These common insects are found almost everywhere. Their mating season begins with the onset of warm weather, and at this time ringing trills and threatening chirping are heard in the air. Crickets sing almost all day long. True, it is very difficult to get closer to the insect: it is very shy, and when a person approaches, it hides in its hole, from which it does not move far.

If it is not possible to meet a cricket in the wild, then there are many audio and video recordings of their sound on the Internet. They are pleasant to listen to, have a calming effect and promote relaxation.

Cricket Reproduction

Crickets have polygamous relationships, each male is the owner of a certain territory, which is inhabited by several females who are part of a kind of harem of this male. If another male encroaches on the territory of this male, fierce fights occur between them.

An obligatory attribute of the mating games of these insects is the famous trills of crickets, performing their musical serenades, the male attracts the female for mating.

Crickets breed throughout the year, but their peak sexual activity occurs in the summer. A fertilized female cricket prepares holes in the ground where she lays her eggs, somewhat similar to bananas. During one oviposition, a female cricket can lay from 40 to 179 eggs.

After one to two months (depending on the temperature and the environment in general), larvae begin to emerge from the eggs. The larva in its appearance resembles an adult cricket, but in order to become one, it will have to go through 10 molts, occurring over 7 weeks, during which the body undergoes restructuring. After the last molt, the larva produces a normal, mature cricket.

Cricket happiness

Crickets are considered good luck especially in Asian and Native American cultures. But since ancient times, superstitious Russian people also believed in the goodness and good fortune of a house guest. Signs associated with the appearance of house crickets denigrate wealth, health, marriage, and easy childbirth. If a cricket appears in the house, this is not only a good thing. It was also believed that it could warn of danger and illness. Throughout history, everyone from nobles and famous artists to peasants and Buddhist monks wanted to hear cricket singing in their homes. But not only to enjoy their song, but also to keep good luck in the house.

Based on the old legend about the black color of the insect, they believe that meeting one of them will bring financial success. And to kill on purpose means to bring disaster on yourself and your family. This is why you should not kill these insects. By paying attention to signs, you can better understand house crickets. After all, they can tell a lot. Therefore, if there is cricket happiness in the house, this is a reason to rejoice and thank the visitor for his choice.

Links

Alexander Benediktov. Vibration alarm for insects of the family Tetrigidae (Orthoptera, Tetrigoidea) in Russia and adjacent territories.
Signals of Russian beetles
Orthoptera alarm
The British Library Sound Archive is an archive of over 150,000 recordings of animal and natural sounds.

Do you know? That crickets, like many living organisms, are able to perceive environmental sounds.

But, unlike the hearing organs familiar to us that mammals have - these are ears, the cricket does not have them. How do these insects pick up sound vibrations? These chirping inhabitants have tympanic organs. They are the hearing organs of crickets. Their location is very different from what we are used to. They are not located on the head at all, but on the front legs and the end of the abdomen and resemble the eardrum in our ear. It is capable of transmitting vibration of air or water, but, unlike the drum, it helps to perceive not only sound vibrations, but also all vibrations occurring in the environment. A person has a limited perception of the sounds made by insects, but each of us has heard the chirping of a cricket. He cannot make vocal sounds, but he can rub some parts of his body against others, the cricket's elytra participate in this process, and the well-known chirping vibrations are formed. This process is scientifically called stridulation. Crickets often use this mechanism within their species, for example, males invite females on a date this way. And this was proven by an interesting experiment, when the male began to chirp into the microphone of the phone, the female, hearing him, at the other end of the line, hurried to the phone. She heard him.

COMBINE USEFUL WITH PLEASANT!

Purpose Demonstrate how crickets make sounds. Materials

Clear adhesive tape
Cardboard card
Nail file or sandpaper

Progress

Use clear tape to secure one of the long sides of the card to the table.
Holding the other long side of the card by the corner, lift it about 5 cm above the table.
Slowly move the nail file back and forth along the raised edge of the card. Listen to the sound.
Repeat step “3” but move the nail file quickly.

Results Sound is produced. The faster you move the nail file, the higher the pitch of the sound. Why? The sound is produced when an uneven surface rubs against a sharp edge of something. In a male cricket, the uneven surface of one wing rubs against the sharp edge of the other wing. As with a nail file, the faster the wings move, the higher the frequency of the sound produced.

MORE FUN FACTS ABOUT CRICKETS!

It turns out that ambient temperature affects the speed at which these creaking creatures chirp. The hotter it is outside, the more intensely they will chirp. They are like thermometers that help determine the weather. This feature was noticed by physicists back in the 19th century. They tried to identify the relationship between the number of chirping sounds and the ambient temperature. Formulas were developed that helped calculate the relationship between these indicators.

You can try this too. To do this, you can visit a forest or park where you can clearly hear the chirping of crickets.

Try to count their chirps within 25 seconds. Happened?

Now divide the resulting number by 3, and then add another 4. You should get the air temperature at a given time. Try to compare with official information.

But it is worth remembering that such a temperature determination is only possible at ambient temperatures exceeding 13 °C. If it's cooler outside, the crickets simply won't sing. This temperature is uncomfortable for them, so they hide.

***

>Download – Crickets at nightSounds of nature

Sense organs

They have an extensive set of external sense organs. On the sides of the head are a pair of large compound eyes that give a wide field of vision. Determine movement, shape, color, distance.

There are three simple eyes on the forehead that indicate the intensity of light, a pair of antennae containing olfactory and sensory receptors, and mouth parts containing taste buds. On the front of the abdomen there are a pair of drum organs for receiving sound.

There are many fine hairs (setae) covering the entire body that act as mechanoreceptors (touch and wind sensors). They are most dense on the whiskers, palps (part of the mouth), and at the tip of the abdomen.

They have special receptors (bell-shaped sensilla) built into the cuticle of the legs that sense pressure and distortion.

They have internal “chordotonal” sensory organs specifically designed to detect position and movement around the joints of the exoskeleton. Receptors transmit information to the central nervous system through sensory neurons.

Watch the video of a grasshopper chirping

Birds

We enrich and activate our vocabulary. We consolidate knowledge of nouns: birds, rook, stork, lark, starling, swift, wagtail, goose, duck, crane, drake, nightingale, swallow, cuckoo, sparrow, bullfinch, crossbill, tit, pigeon, crow, jackdaw, woodpecker, feeding trough, food, body, paw, tail, wing, beak, head, feathers, egg, nest, chick, hunger, cold, bread crumbs, grain, rowan, care, help, human habitation, owl; verbs: jump, fly, sweep, flap, sit, starve, feed, pour, steal, tweet, croak, coo, crack, hollow, treat, drag away, hibernate; adjectives: black, agile, white-sided, motley, blue-winged, grey, perky, cheerful, hungry, wintering; adverbs: hungry, cold, pitiful, high, low, little, far, close. We monitor the correct use of prepositions in speech: WITH, ON, ABOVE, TO, FROM, UNDER, FROM UNDER, NEAR, ABOUT.

House cricket

In the East, insects that produce beautiful melodies, such as the cricket and the cicada, were kept in special cages in homes, just like songbirds. And today, some exotic animal lovers keep crickets to enjoy their sounds.

To do this, use an aquarium, terrarium or special insectarium. Insects need systematic care. It is especially important to change the soil every 3 days, otherwise the unusual pet may die. Although crickets are predators in their natural habitat, when kept at home they are also fed plant foods: vegetables, fruits, and herbs.

The singing of crickets is very beautiful and varied. It's worth a trip out of town.

Brief information about the insect

Crickets are a family of orthoptera insects. Their closest relatives are grasshoppers, locusts, and cockroaches. From an evolutionary point of view, they all have a fairly respectable age, because their group was formed approximately 300 million years ago, during the Late Carboniferous era. This is 120 million years earlier than the beginning of the Jurassic period. There are 2,300 species of this insect around the world. Most of them live in hot and humid climates, and only about 50 of them inhabit the territory of the CIS countries. The most common and famous of them are the field cricket (preferring life in fields, meadows and the edges of light deciduous forests) and the brownie, which chooses proximity to humans. It often climbs into houses and adjacent buildings, living in secluded corners and feeding on other insects.

Locust

It is possible that a locust or grasshopper is giving a concert in your garden. This is the closest relative of grasshoppers, found almost everywhere except in the coldest areas. They feed only on plants.

Locusts have become notorious for their monstrous appetite and ability to gather in swarms of billions. Every day, locusts eat as much plant food as they weigh. It would seem that this is not much, only 2 g, but a flock of a billion insects already absorbs 2000 tons! In Russia, locusts live in the lower reaches of the Volga, Ural, Don, and Terek.

Locusts (small species of locust) have more modest appetites, but are found everywhere. They can be seen even in the center of a large city.

Photo: www.globallookpress.com

How does chirping happen?

A chirping grasshopper can often even be seen in the grass. Only he moves his legs and wings so quickly that it is impossible to understand what exactly is happening. However, scientists have discovered this too. The chirping process, as it turns out, occurs in most grasshoppers during the closing of the elytra. At the same time, they move in approximately the same way as the leaves of scissors. The grasshopper closes and opens the elytra, as a result of which a vibration of a certain purity is transmitted to them, and then rubs them against the frame of the bow. This is how a sound is heard that can be heard in the summer in a field or at the edge of a forest.

By the way, female Orthoptera catch the singing of their gentlemen with a special apparatus located on their paws. In some species the “ear” is located in the sternum area.

Treatment for tinnitus

The approach to treating tinnitus depends on the underlying disease:

If the examination reveals any pathological formation, surgical treatment is possible: removal of tumors, neuromas, sanitizing operations for otitis and labyrinthitis.
Conservative treatment of ear diseases . Treatment of otitis media, eustachitis, removal of sulfur plugs.
Arthrosis of the temporomandibular joint requires comprehensive treatment from a dentist or orthopedist.
Stopping medications that may be causing tinnitus.
physiotherapeutic interventions, methods of hyperbaric oxygenation, acupuncture, and laser therapy have been proposed for the treatment of tinnitus
For noise caused by muscle spasms, massage of the neck muscles, masticatory muscles, and stretching exercises for the masticatory muscles (moving the lower jaw forward) have a good effect.
Regardless of the etiology of the noise, psychotherapy is indicated for all patients. This method is aimed at reducing the patient’s fixation on his feelings and changing his attitude towards him.
Good results can be obtained by the method of biofeedback - training the patient to control his vegetative reactions.
The use of medications that can reduce noise or improve its tolerance.

Medicines used for tinnitus

As already mentioned, there is no single medication that specifically suppresses tinnitus. However, there are a number of drugs that significantly reduce the severity of noise if used taking into account the predominance of one or another mechanism.

Anticonvulsants. They have a good effect on muscle noise (convulsive contractions of the middle ear muscles, the tensor tympani muscle, the levator soft palate muscle). Drugs such as finlepsin, phenytoin, lamotrigine are used. The dosage is selected by an otoneurologist.

Nutrition

In summer, they feed on plant foods such as grass, shoots, roots, etc. In winter, they find refuge in people's homes or industrial premises, where there is a lot of food and water.

An interesting fact was noticed that insects of this species can eat the clutches of young relatives, which proves that they are cannibals. They can also feed on dead insects that are somehow found in the aisles of their home.

A female cricket can lay a colossal number of eggs, but this is directly related to the climatic conditions and the environment in which the insects are located.

In the best conditions, it lays from 40 to 700 eggs in cracks formed in the soil, provided that the air temperature in the shade is at least 28 degrees Celsius. The incubation period lasts from 1 to 12 weeks, then the pupae begin to appear.

The full development period from clutch to adult imago can take from 34 to 65 days. The pupa goes through more than eleven stages of development.

When they chirp

Typically, crickets begin making sounds after sunset. It is in complete darkness that these musicians leave their hiding places. In nature, where crickets are not negatively affected by human activity, it is not a problem to hear these insects even during the day. Day and night they can also be heard during the mating season. Silencing this “musician” is quite simple; just get close to him at a certain distance. Sensing danger, the cricket will immediately hide in its hole.

Interesting fact! At night, crickets feel safe, which is why they make sounds mainly after sunset.

The structural features of the acoustic apparatus of grasshoppers do not allow them to make sounds at night. As soon as dew begins to fall, the wet organ cannot make sounds. Therefore, grasshoppers chirp exclusively during the day.

The Japanese simply adore these little “musicians”, so many breed them at home to enjoy this melody all the time.

Breeding

In order to breed insects in large quantities it is not difficult. It is enough to know in what favorable conditions it reproduces. And so, we already know all the necessary information about the reproduction and habitat of insects, now it remains to find out what materials to use to breed them.

To do this, we make a cage in which we need to put from 5 males and up to 15 females. Under favorable conditions, males are very active and quickly begin to mate. If you ignore the rules and put more than 5 males in one container, you may run into trouble.

They begin to arrange fights in which they maim each other, losing the most important organ that makes sounds. Having lost the advantage of producing melodies, they are no longer interesting to females.

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In order to create all the conditions for reproduction, you need to use a container with a moist substrate (soil, soil). The container is located in the middle of the cage and must be closed on top with a wire mesh, which has cells not exceeding 2 millimeters.

This is done to prevent insects from digging the soil and eating the masonry. Next, the females lay from 300 to 600 eggs. They develop in 11 to 15 days at a temperature of 27 degrees Celsius. Now if we know the incubation interval, for continuous reproduction we need to change the container with moist soil once every decade and a half. There will be no special problems with hatched young insects if you follow basic requirements.

If there is an abundance of protein feed, it is advisable to make a special feeder with minimal sides.
Availability of water or wick drinker.

After 45-55 days you will receive an imago.

As previously written, crickets are bred not only to feed other insects and reptiles, but also for consumption.
In some countries it is used as bait to catch rare species of fish.
Crickets are prone to cannibalism and can destroy clutches of eggs.
Many people enjoy hearing crickets sing at night.

The cricket is perhaps a rare example of an exception among insects, causing in people not disgust (as, for example, the same ones), but on the contrary sympathy and curiosity. Since ancient times, his melodic singing has been associated with the hearth, coziness, and comfort. It’s not for nothing that the cricket is a favorite hero of many children’s fairy tales.

Good omens

According to signs, with its singing, a cricket protects the house it has chosen to live in. In rural areas this is common, but in city apartments it is rare. So city residents can regard the appearance of a musical insect not as a mere accident, but as a sign of fate.

Hearing crickets at home on the eve of Christmas is a sign of sudden profit. The only Russian sign associated with crickets that promises material benefits.
For sick people, seeing or hearing a cricket means a speedy recovery. Especially if the cricket has settled in the very room where the sick family member is resting. In case of serious illnesses, a green cricket, a symbol of hope, is a particularly good sign.
The chirping of a cricket behind the stove (in the case of modern houses and apartments, the stove) can be interpreted as a sign of good luck. But this is not the only interpretation; for another, see below.

Family well-being

The cricket’s favorite “area of activity” is intra-family relationships, the strength of bonds and the prosperity of the social unit.

The cricket starts up and sings songs in the room of an unmarried girl or a single boy - for an imminent wedding. This is not necessarily a good omen, because many value their freedom and do not intend to get married. But for men eager to get married (as well as their parents, who are still waiting for their son to start his own family) and women in search of a relationship, crickets in the house promise a happy fulfillment of matrimonial desires.
For pregnant women, the cricket predicts good health for the rest of the term, an easy birth and the birth of a healthy baby. Just what a twitchy woman in position needs.
For widows, crickets predict that the pain of loss will soon subside. According to some beliefs, a cricket is the embodiment of the soul of a deceased spouse, who came to visit his wife and protect her sleep with his nightly songs. But crickets are of no use to widowers.
If a cricket suddenly stops chirping at night and starts chirping during the day, this portends that one of the household members will leave the house. Not necessarily forever, but for a long time. Previously, this interpretation was much more sinister, because the integrity of the family was determined by one house, but now the omen can also be regarded as a good sign: in the case of adult children who are still not going to move out.

Grasshoppers ignored ultrasonic signals from predator bats

oliver.dodd/flickr

Scientists have found that the grasshoppers of Neotropical forests use proactive measures to protect themselves from predators - chirping for no more than two seconds a night - although they hear the ultrasonic signals of bats and could only hide when they approach. The fact is that a third party enters into the relationship between predator and prey - other bats that do not feed on grasshoppers. Most of the echolocation signals belong to them, and the connection between ultrasound and the predator is disrupted. The article was published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences

You can protect yourself from a predator in advance by avoiding meeting it. For example, camouflage or move less to be invisible. Such methods of protection are called proactive. If a predator is nearby or has already noticed the prey, it is necessary to act reactively - hide, defend or run away.

Each species, and sometimes individual individuals, has its own balance between proactive and reactive defense. Thus, many prey insects of bats have learned to hear the echolocation signals of predators and can act reactively - for example, change their flight course when they sense the approach of a hunter. And those insects that cannot distinguish ultrasound have to resort to proactive methods of protection: flying less often and more erratically, hiding in vegetation.

There are also less obvious situations. Many grasshoppers hear echolocation calls, and some species stop chirping when bats approach. However, the forests of the Neotropics (South and parts of Central America) are home to many different bats, all of which use echolocation, but many of which do not hunt grasshoppers. It is not clear how insects act in this situation - they defend themselves reactively and react to any ultrasonic signal, even if it does not signal danger, or they ignore the sounds of bats and are always careful - for example, they chirp less often.

A group of US scientists led by Laurel Symes from Cornell University conducted an experiment with representatives of 11 species of true grasshoppers ( Tettigoniidae

), which were collected on an island in Panama. The insects were kept in mesh cages at the edge of the forest and their chirping sounds were recorded for 24 hours. The grasshoppers were then played the sounds of fringed-lipped leaf-nosed bats ( Trachops cirrhosus

) or white noise and the chirping was recorded again.

In the second part of the experiment, the scientists recorded the activity of ultrasound-sensitive TN-1 neurons to ensure that the grasshoppers actually heard the bat calls.

TN-1 neurons from all 11 grasshopper species were found to be sensitive to ultrasonic signals. However, insects (except one species, Cocconotus wheeleri

) did not stop chirping when the sounds of bats were played for them. Half of the species chirped equally both under signals from leaf-nosed insects and under white noise or in silence; the rest made sounds under white noise more often than in the other two conditions.

In general, grasshoppers chirped rarely and made short sounds - in total, one grasshopper could be heard for only two seconds per night. And in a single species—the one that quieted down in response to calls from leaf-nosed insects—the chirping lasted an average of 22 seconds each night. Scientists have suggested that Neotropical grasshoppers prefer proactive defense and chirp less often so as not to give themselves away. Reacting to ultrasonic signals is apparently not very beneficial - after all, only four percent of such sounds can actually warn of danger.

It seems that a third party—bats that feed on other insects or fruit—can also interfere in the relationship between predator and prey. Trophically, they are not related to each other, but the presence of “safe” bats destroys the correspondence between the danger signal and the predator (ultrasound and leaf-nosed bat).

The diet of bats differs markedly between different groups: some feed on insects, some on larger animals, and others drink blood. The appearance of these bats is also varied, which is reflected in their fancy names. You can learn about all this from our test “Mouse (fly)”.

Alisa Bakhareva