What does a cricket look like - photo and description of insect species

Why do crickets make sounds?

The first and main reason for the appearance of these pleasant sounds is the peculiarities of the reproduction process. A sexually mature male, making sounds, tries to attract a female for fertilization. The male is able to make such sounds from dawn to dusk, until the female hears him. His efforts may be rewarded if the sounds are loud and melodious enough.

The second reason is related to the peculiarities of his life. Crickets prefer to lead an isolated lifestyle, occupying a certain territory, which they protect and designate with the help of sounds. Apart from females, males do not allow anyone into their territory, walking around their territory several times a day, checking if anyone outside has appeared.

In any case, regardless of the reason for the appearance of such sounds, a person receives pleasure from them. Many people compare the sounds made by crickets to the trill of birds, so they often breed these insects in their apartment. As many have pointed out, there are no difficulties in this regard. In addition, crickets in captivity “sing” not only at night, but also during the day.

The sound of a cricket. How a cricket sings

Watch this video on YouTube

What do they eat?

At any stage of life, these insects feed on plant sap. With the help of a proboscis, insects make punctures in stems or roots. It does not harm vegetation. However, farmers are afraid of cicadas because they destroy many crops.

During the egg-laying period, females burrow into the peel or skin of the plant, resulting in destruction of its integrity. For this reason, females cause great harm to agriculture. The vineyards are suffering the most. They also destroy a large number of root crops, grains and berries.

Due to the peculiarity of their life cycle, sometimes their population will increase several tens of times.

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, herbs

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

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

But, unlike the usual hearing organs that mammals have - 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!

Target

Demonstrate how crickets make sounds.

Materials

1. Clear adhesive tape
2. Cardboard card
3. 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” only move the nail file quickly.

results

The result is sound. 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.

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 determination of temperature 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.

Why do grasshoppers chirp?

In most cases, you can only hear a cricket chirping at night. That's when the musicians come out of their holes. Although in country fields you can enjoy the trill at any time of the day. During mating games, insects can play music both day and night. Silencing an Orthoptera is very easy. He stops singing as soon as he senses danger. Therefore, at the slightest approach to him, the male hides in a hole.

The simplicity of the grasshopper's acoustic organ prevents them from chirping at night. At this time, dew falls in the grass and the wet organ is not able to emit trills. The sound of the green insect can only be heard during the daytime.

In Japan, little musicians are especially respected. They are bred specifically to be able to listen to melodious ringing at any time.

No, not only. Females, depending on their desire, can also sometimes begin to chirp, but basically such “music playing” is the lot of males.

Crickets and grasshoppers instantly stop chirping in moments of danger.

The membranes of crickets are thinner than those of grasshoppers, so the sounds they make are more melodic and varied. Each insect has its own sound frequency (from 3.6 to 4 kilohertz).

The chirping of a grasshopper resembles a sharp crackling sound, gentle, sometimes quieter, sometimes louder. It seems that the grasshoppers persistently and sharply “break” dry grass and stems. In fact, grasshoppers rub their front or hind legs against each other or against their wings, which are equipped with bristles. The bristles are quite hard, so there is a cracking sound that is so familiar to every person.

Only males can chatter. These are their mating songs. They attract and fascinate females with their “charming” sounds. Females do not need this, so they simply do not have the “tools” for cod.

When danger approaches, grasshoppers instantly fall silent. This saves the grasshoppers from real enemies. That's why, when you walk through a field, meadow or clearing in a park, you don't hear grasshoppers nearby. But if you stand still and remain motionless for at least a few minutes, you will be rewarded with the choral singing of all the males in the area.

It is not easy to spot a grasshopper in the grass. If they jump, you will see their bodies flashing in the grass. They adapt to the surrounding grass on which they feed. Therefore, they come in green, brown-green, brown colors.

But if you stand for a minute without moving, the owners of the meadows and fields will begin to choose convenient places on your body. Some will jump on your shoes, while others will reach your shoulder. The higher you are, the better you can see.

True, grasshoppers do not use sight, but they have perfect hearing. Don't scare off the guest, try to look at him carefully. And if a male jumps on you, then you will examine his entire “musical” instrument.

It has been proven that the sound of a grasshopper has a beneficial effect on the human nervous system. It is monotonous, not intrusive and rhythmic. If nothing distracts you, then after listening to the chirping for about five minutes, you will no longer distinguish it from other sounds of the surrounding nature. And you will hear the music of nature, which will free you from unnecessary stress and cleanse you from the sounds and voices of the city. Refreshed, you return to your business.

Materials

Progress

results

Why?

These are the most common “chirpers”. Grasshoppers live almost throughout the entire territory of Russia, except for the highlands and regions of the Far North. Most species are hunters, patiently waiting for prey to appear. In this respect, the grasshopper is similar to a praying mantis - it also lies in wait for its prey, and then grabs it with its strong front legs and powerful jaws.

Sometimes a grasshopper moves with quiet steps, feeling the road in front of it with its antennae - as soon as it touches another insect, the hunter catches it with a quick swoop. When choosing an object for a snack, he does not disdain anyone, even his relatives. Most often, aphids, hairless caterpillars, young beetles and fillies are found in its jaws.

So it turns out that the children’s song is not telling the truth: the grasshopper will “touch” the grasshopper and the booger, and is not particularly friendly with flies. And, by the way, it can easily bite the skin on the fingers of a person who carelessly grabs it. Moreover, he will vomit a drop of his own blood into the wound, which will burn like fire. Handle him with care!

The grasshopper has long whiskers (sometimes 4 times longer than the body), while the locust has short whiskers. The female grasshopper has a saber-shaped ovipositor at the end of its abdomen, but the locust does not. The grasshopper has a pointed head at the bottom and a short body for greater maneuverability. The locust has a rounded and blunt head, and an elongated body for better aerodynamics. Grasshoppers are sedentary, while swarms of locusts fly thousands of kilometers.

Cousins

As part of one order, insects represent two different families: the cricket belongs to the crickets, the grasshopper, which is quite logical, to the grasshoppers.

They do not differ much in the mechanism of reproduction of their own kind and in physiology: their dissimilarity is more manifested in the exterior.

Blacksmiths are predominantly larger than crickets (if we consider all species and subspecies of these two insects).

Grasshoppers are predominantly larger than crickets

The color of crickets varies from light yellow to brown and black, while grasshoppers, masquerading as grass and leaves, are often greenish or sandy-gray.

The hind legs of the grasshopper are much more powerful and longer than those of the cricket representatives, which is dictated by its free lifestyle in large open spaces. Crickets jump infrequently and forcedly, so their hind limbs are much less developed.

These close relatives fold their wings in different ways: the grasshopper slightly covers the right wing with its left elytra, as if forming a roof, and the cricket horizontally covers the left wing with its right wing.

The females of these two insects have different organs for laying eggs. The grasshopper's ovipositor resembles a sword - this shape helps the parent to reliably hide the offspring from enemies. The “cricket” makes do with a more elementary ovipositor - needle-like.

The color of the cricket varies from light yellow to brown and black.

And finally, another feature that separates these Orthoptera is the structure of the legs. The limb of a cricket is “assembled” from three segments, while that of a blacksmith is made up of four. You can also find out how long crickets live.

House cricket (house cricket) - description, appearance, characteristics

House crickets are fairly small insects. The size of the slender, slightly flattened body, covered with a hard chitinous shell, in adult individuals ranges from 16 to 26 mm in length. The color of the domestic cricket can be grayish-yellow, straw-fawn or various shades of brown with streaks, specks or spots of indeterminate shape.

On the head of the cricket, which resembles a flattened egg in shape, 3 dark arcuate stripes are clearly visible. The small eyes located on its sides have a complex facet structure.

The mouthparts of crickets are of the gnawing type in structure. The antennae, consisting of several segments, are an organ of touch. Often their size is slightly greater than the length of the cricket's body.

The rear pair of well-developed membranous wings helps house crickets easily fly from place to place. At rest, the cricket's wings lie along the abdomen and resemble long, sharp tails.

If necessary, house crickets can travel quite long distances. When the insect is on the ground, its wings are reliably protected from damage by dense elytra that lie flat on the back, with the right one slightly overlapping the left.

Photo credit: Joseph Berger, Bugwood.org

Like all orthoptera, the house cricket has 3 pairs of legs. The hind legs have thickened thighs and are designed to perform fairly long jumps. It is noteworthy that the hearing organs of these insects are located on the shins of the front pair of legs.

The paired appendages located on the last segment of the abdomen are quite long and resemble peculiar antennae sticking out in different directions.

Photo credit: Charles Olsen, USDA APHIS PPQ, Bugwood.org

Sexual dimorphism is expressed in the presence of a special sound apparatus in male crickets, which is similar in structure to the sound apparatus of grasshoppers, but differs from it in greater complexity and a different arrangement of components. The stridulatory vein, which functions as a closure, is located on the right elytra, and the vein against which it rubs is located on the left elytra. When they rub against each other, the familiar trill of a cricket appears. In crickets, the sound apparatus is more developed and occupies a larger area than in grasshoppers.

Female crickets have an ovipositor at the very end of their abdomen, shaped like a spear. Its length ranges from 11 to 15 mm. With the help of this organ, females dig holes in the soil into which fertilized eggs are laid.

The average lifespan of a house cricket rarely exceeds 3 months.

Built-in violin

The grasshopper performs incredibly beautiful melodies using its front wings. The grasshopper moves the jagged vein on the left wing, like a bow, along the “grater” on the right wing, and from it the vibrations are transmitted to a special vibrating membrane, the “mirror.”

The performer’s “track list” includes long, piercing invocation songs, short trills of warning to rivals, and a quiet, creaky ballad addressed to the lady of his heart. The male not only plays it - sometimes he also dances, swaying from side to side while performing.

The hearing organs of grasshoppers are located... on the shins of the front legs.
The inside of the “ears” are very complex, but on the outside they look like membranes or narrow slits. We suggest you read: How to drive a cricket out of the house

Features of cricket

The main feature of this insect is its ability to chirp. Only males who use their vocal abilities in the interests of procreation are capable of this.

The familiar sound of a cricket is a kind of “serenade” for the female

First, the cricket lures the female, indicating its readiness to mate. Then he sings serenades to her, this is the period of courtship. Well, with the third type of signal, male crickets drive away competitors.

The sound is produced by rubbing the teeth of one elytra against the chirping cord of the other. The elytra rise and by their trembling form sharp vibrating movements, which are the source of sound.

Listen to the cricket's voice

Externally, crickets are similar to grasshoppers, but larger. The largest species living in our country is the field cricket, 2-2.6 cm in size, black with orange spots on the elytra and orange thighs.

The entire body of the insect is covered with a chitinous shell, which protects it from damage and reduces moisture loss. There are domestic, field and tree crickets, which differ in appearance. But everyone's songs are equally good.

How long do crickets live, favorite habitats

The habitat of such insects covers almost all countries of Europe, North Africa and Asia, as well as southern Australia. They appeared later in America, where they were brought by settlers from European countries.

The lifespan of a domestic cricket is 1.5-3 months, a field cricket - up to 15 (including hibernation), and for tropical insects it can reach 7 months.

House crickets prefer to live close to people's homes. They are omnivorous insects that are able to eat both plant and animal foods. To get food for themselves, they hunt small invertebrates and are able to eat other smaller insects.

The optimal temperature for the life of a cricket is no less than +20ºС; when it drops, the insect leads a sedentary lifestyle, lives without food (even the larvae stop developing), and when it drops to minus, it goes into hibernation.

They often settle not only in houses, but also in old buildings, they love high humidity, and look for cracks and rugs to live in. Within cities, they are found on the upper floors of apartment buildings, sometimes even a lonely cricket settles on the balcony, but they still prefer damp and warm basements or boiler rooms.

Crickets are polygamous insects, that is, one male occupies a certain territory where several females live, forming a small harem. When attempting to attack strangers, they always sort things out by fighting, during which they bite off each other’s paws or mustaches and butt heads. Having won, the male often eats his opponent.

The reproduction process can occur all year round, but their maximum sexual activity occurs in the summer. Mating usually takes place in a burrow, where the female comes, having heard the “trills” of the groom.

A few days after fertilization, the female lays eggs in a hole prepared in the ground, piercing the soil with her long ovipositor. The number of eggs depends on the temperature: the higher it is, the more. Usually it is in the range of 50-200 eggs; in the southern climate, the clutch consists of 500-600 eggs. They are shaped like small white bananas.

After 1-12 weeks, depending on the temperature, nymphs appear, which for the first days hide in a hole or under stones; there is no pupal stage. The larvae are usually wingless and smaller in size, otherwise similar to adults. During the growth process, the cricket larva molts 9-11 times, and only after 1.5 months. becomes a sexually mature individual. After each change of shell, the insect looks like a white cricket with unstretched wings.

Features of character and lifestyle

Photo: Cricket

The most striking feature that a cricket has, and why people sometimes breed them at home, is its melodic sounds. They produce unique, special and melodious signals. Moreover, such “melodies” are produced exclusively by sexually mature males. There are three types of signals. Each sound has its own meaning. Some signals encourage the female to mate, while others scare away potential female suitors. And still others emit signals when courting a partner in order to attract her.

How do crickets make sounds? On the right wing of the “bug” there are special chirping cords, which in turn rub against the left wing. This is how the chirping sound of a cricket comes about. And the raised wings serve as a sound resonator. Their wings create more than 4,000 vibrations per second. Thus, the signals are very clearly audible to humans. Crickets chirp all summer long, and you can clearly hear it while outdoors.

“In the old days, it was believed that if a “screaming” cricket lives in a house, it brings good luck to the owner and protects him from evil and disease. For the pregnant girls living in the house, this meant an easy birth. And we shouldn’t have gotten rid of them.” Today everything is different, not many people like such “vocalists”, some simply disdain insects, and for others such singing interferes with sleep.

This insect loves warmth very much; without it, their process of reproduction and development slows down, and they become inactive. And if the temperature reaches sub-zero temperatures, the insect simply goes into hibernation.

Crickets have a special way of life - one male has a certain part of the territory that he controls. Can attract many females, whom he will consider only as his own. Something like a harem. But God forbid another male gets into his territory - a fight will break out in which only one individual will survive. And the male who wins can dine on his rival.

Signals

Our hero has the amazing ability to produce three types. But only males can make melodic sounds. Let's take a closer look at each of them:

1. The first type of sound that an insect makes is an indication that mating season is open and it is in search of a female.
2. The second type of serenades is dedicated entirely to the female who responded to his call.
3. The last type of melody tells potential rivals that this territory is occupied and everything that is on it belongs to the owner of the frightening sound produced.

Many people are interested in what exactly a cricket does to produce a melodic sound. Let us describe these actions to you in detail.

In order to make a sound, the male insect uses the following actions, rubbing the funicular (conatic) at the end of one elytra against the teeth of the surface of the other. Based on these movements, the trembling bases of the wings lift upward, then a sharp movement with vibration occurs. It is this that causes the insect to emit serenades.

An adult insect lives a decent amount of time when compared with other insects. On average, the duration of its life period ranges from three to four months.

Insects in a house or apartment: types and their general description

Crickets are classified as orthopteran insects and are often confused with grasshoppers. The reason for the confusion is the crackling sound that both species of Orthoptera make, the body shape and similar external characteristics.

There are several species of real crickets, but not all of them are able to live next to a person in his house. The following types of crickets from the order Orthoptera can live in your apartment or cottage:

• Street or field cricket. It is this insect that loves to visit human territories. He feels warm and safe next to him. There are many of them in the North Caucasus. They are considered frequent guests in houses in the Moscow region. They mainly live in forest-steppe and steppe zones. But still, this large insect does not settle in an artificial environment, but only visits it, preferring a mink dug on its own;
• House cricket. The insect loves to live in apartments of multi-storey residential buildings and cottages. He is less timid, so he easily changes his habitat to a “human” one. Due to the ability to live next to a person, it is extremely difficult to define clear boundaries of his habitat.

Both types of insects will not be noticeable on human territory during the daytime. Their time is late evening and early morning. At this time, they go out into open areas without fear and sing their songs. A cricket that has taken up residence in a house has a massive body for its size, ending in two strong and flexible threads. The body is covered with small elytra that protect the wings, which fold along the body. The latter protrude strongly from under the elytra. When considering the question of what crickets look like, one cannot help but touch upon the topic of insect color. Field specimens are dark brown or coffee brown in color. There are individuals of a straw-fawn or yellow-grayish hue. But the house cricket has a darker color, almost black.

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Grasshopper or cricket?

The grasshopper and the cricket are insects that look similar to each other, but they are representatives of different families. Both of the same order are Orthoptera, and the families: grasshopper are grasshoppers, crickets are crickets. Grasshopper Grasshopper - there are a total of 6,800 species on all continents (except Antarctica). One of the few insects that live openly in the grass. Not in cracks or holes. Grasshoppers escape from danger thanks to their ability to instantly disappear from a place with a sharp jump. For this reason, catching a grasshopper is not easy for a predator. Very often, grasshoppers have an appearance and color similar to the appearance and color of the leaves or other parts of the plants on which they live. It is noteworthy that grasshoppers are omnivores. They can feed on plant foods and other insects and larvae. That is, they are both herbivores and predators. Some species of grasshoppers prefer only plant food, some only predation. This makes grasshoppers similar to both praying mantises (fierce predators in the insect world) and locusts. Externally, grasshoppers bear little resemblance to praying mantises. But they are sometimes confused with fillies and locusts. Everyone has ever heard the chirping of crickets in forests and meadows. Sometimes this chirping can be quite beautiful. Cricket Cricket is a family of Crickets, or False Grasshoppers. Crickets have been known since the Triassic period and contain approximately 3,700 known living species in approximately 528 genera, as well as 43 extinct species and 27 extinct genera. Crickets live in crevices, under stones, in burrows, feed mainly on plants, but can eat other small invertebrates and soft tissues from corpses, including being capable of cannibalism. Two widely known species of crickets are Acheta domesticus (house cricket) and Gryllus campestris (field cricket). Crickets are bred for different purposes, some just like to watch them, like fish in an aquarium, some to feed other animals, and some for their singing and chirping. Field cricket is common in Central and Southern Europe, Asia Minor, North Africa and Western Asia. Prefers warm, sunny meadows and fields, light pine forests. It digs holes in the ground 10-20 cm deep and 2 cm in diameter. The house cricket originally lived in Eurasia, later it came to Australia and North America. The cricket is used by humans for bait when fishing, in Asia - as food, and is also widely kept and bred in various countries of the world as live food for domestic animals, for example, reptiles.

Differences between grasshopper and cricket:

• These insects are from different families.
• Grasshoppers have more developed hind legs, thanks to which they can make giant leaps.
• Crickets have more developed wings and fly, unlike grasshoppers, whose wings only help them when jumping.
• Crickets are usually smaller in size than grasshoppers.
• Crickets are predominantly dark in color. Grasshoppers have a variety of colors, mostly green.
• Crickets live in crevices and burrows, grasshoppers live openly in the grass.
• Crickets can easily live in human housing, and their behavior is similar to cockroaches. Grasshoppers prefer to live in the wild.
• Crickets chirp mainly at night. Grasshoppers “sing” during the day, in dry weather.

Appearance of insects

These insects don't have ears, but they can certainly hear. An organ called the eardrum aids their hearing. One of the unique facts about grasshoppers is that the eardrum is located in the abdominal cavity and often looks like a huge round disc.

Grasshoppers are easily confused with crickets, which belong to the same family, but they have many distinctive features. For example, there are clear differences in the number of antennal segments, the structure of the ovipositor and the way sounds are produced, as well as the position of the cymbals. Unlike crickets, grasshoppers have 20 to 24 antennal segments.

The grasshopper's nervous system consists of nerve cells freely located in the body. They are called ganglia. These cells generally exist in almost all species. All ganglia are connected to the center - the brain.

Grasshoppers have two huge eyes on the top of their heads. These are compound eyes. They consist of thousands of small eyes that receive information and send it to the brain.

Although they have wings, they are not usually used for actual flight. Males are relatively shorter than females with a large ovipositor. Two pairs of valves are attached to the female's abdomen and are actually used for digging while laying eggs.

These animals can also change their color depending on their surroundings. This is especially necessary to get rid of potential predators such as frogs. Most of these species are well hidden in green fields and forests.

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.

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:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.

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.

In the summer outside the city you can hear a pleasant chirping sound - the characteristic sound of a cricket. This insect, which lives all over the world, “sings” not for fun. Its chirping trills serve to communicate with its relatives. To reproduce its incessant song, the cricket uses wings that have a special structure.

House cricket

The most common species is the house cricket

. It has more than 2000 varieties. The body length of an adult is about 2−2.5 cm, dense, brown or gray-brown in color. The elytra are short, the wings protrude from under them in the form of folded cords. Raising their elytra, the crickets very quickly rub them against each other, emitting a musical trill. They have three pairs of legs. The hind ones are the most powerful, with their help the insect makes long jumps.

Crickets do not live long; on average, adults age and die at 2 months of age. To reach maturity, they need to survive 10 moults over 1-1.5 months. It all depends on the ambient temperature. The total is 3-4 months of life. Wild tropical species can live for about six months. Wild field species live the longest, about a year, and this is due to the fact that they have to hibernate.

Crickets prefer humid climates and high temperatures. Therefore, as soon as the outside temperature drops, they settle in more comfortable conditions, for example, in a house behind a stove or behind a heating radiator. In the natural environment, they settle in crevices, under stones, and in secluded burrows. To breed them at home you will need a terrarium.

The cricket allows only females to enter its territory. Usually one male invites 3-4 females with his singing. After the date, they look for a place to lay eggs. This is usually a soft, loose substrate. One female lays on average up to 600 eggs. The time of their development is affected by the ambient temperature. It usually takes from 2 to 3 weeks

. Insects hatched from eggs resemble adults in appearance, only smaller in size and lacking wings.

What does it eat?

At home, they eat leftover human food and other insects. In nature, their food is varied: they feed on plants, smaller insects, are prone to cannibalism, and eat young animals. Those who are interested in breeding these insects know that the clutch of eggs must be separated from the adults in order to avoid cases of cannibalism. Crickets in their natural environment

and themselves often serve as food for larger insects, amphibians, lizards, birds and other predators.

If a “baked musician” appeared in the house, it was considered a good omen, a sign of prosperity, a talisman against poverty and crop failure. It was impossible to kill the insect; on the contrary, it was necessary to feed it and appease it.

In China and Japan, they even built separate houses for them and hung them in the middle of the house so that they could enjoy their singing.

However, although the trill of a cricket in the house is a favorable omen, people are increasingly trying to get rid of the house musician by all means.

You can fight crickets, like other insects, with insecticides. This measure is suitable for rooms where large populations of crickets are observed. One “singer” can be caught using a cloth, a jar or a box. They begin to make sounds at dusk, so using a flashlight beam you can detect the source in the dark and cover it, moving it into a closed container.

You can use a sticky cricket trap

. To do this, place it behind the radiator or under the window. You can lure and remove the insect using a special molasses syrup, leaving this product in the container overnight and often changing it to fresh one. The unique smell of this product attracts them very much.

If the owners of the apartment do not want the “illegal” residence of a musical guest performer again, some precautions against insects should be taken:

This is what house crickets used to be called. Biologically, these “singers” belong to orthoptera insects from the cricket family. Their homeland is the Far East and North Africa. Since crickets are heat-loving creatures, their favorite habitats with the onset of cold weather are houses heated by stoves, as well as heated industrial buildings and heating plants. During the warm season, these insects live in open spaces.

It is curious that the love of warmth, as well as the same culinary preferences, make house crickets similar to red house cockroaches. If you don’t look closely at these insects, they are even similar in appearance! However, cockroaches cannot sing and generally do not make any sounds that can be heard by humans. , in principle, cannot be called a “singer” either, he is a violinist. Crickets play their “violin” by rubbing the sharp side of one prewing against the surface of the other.

Lifespan

Crickets are active at night. This is the song beloved by many that males produce when courting a female or scaring off rivals. During the day they hide in secluded places. In summer, insects prefer a natural habitat, hiding in damp crevices or burrows.

Females lay eggs in moist substrate in crevices of trees or stones. The number of eggs laid by one female per season depends on the ambient temperature. The usual number is from 40 to 180, but at temperatures above 28°C the number of eggs laid can exceed 700.

For the winter, crickets move into houses and into warm, damp rooms, which include heated basements and heating power lines. When the air temperature is above 21°C, the cricket in the house can continue its vital activity in winter.

It is almost impossible to see a cricket during the day, since its activity occurs at night. During daylight hours, they sit in crevices and secluded dark corners, and only at night can they be detected by sound.

There is a sign that if a cricket appears at home, it is good

This spectacle is quite exciting to watch, so in some countries they even organize cricket fights. They have developed a special diet for fighting insects, cold medicines, and provide them with meetings with females to maintain morale.

Crickets belong to the suborder Longwhiskers, order Orthoptera and number more than 2000 species. They are able to adapt well to environmental conditions, feeling comfortable both in the hot, humid tropics and in practically barren, dry areas.

The house cricket, Acheta domestica, lives naturally in the desert areas of North Africa, where water is available only in the form of dew drops and there is virtually no vegetation. What do crickets eat in the wild? In such modest conditions, the desert inhabitant does not disdain anything; he feeds on the organic remains found, even those that have long dried up.

Persistently digging in the sand, it looks for eggs, larvae and pupae of other insects. At home, in dark basement corners or under the floor of a hut, the cricket behaves the same way and actively destroys flea nests and cockroach broods. What do crickets eat at home?

The Italian representative Oecanthus pellucens Scop stands out with particular melody compared to its fellows. It was this species that the ancient Greeks kept in cages. For this occasion, the masters of Ancient China used vessels made of ceramics, a material capable of greatly amplifying the sound produced by a winged musician. By the way, the older the male, the richer his music sounds.

Behavior, nutrition and reproduction of crickets

When singing, males raise their front, hard pair of wings, called elytra, and rub them together, resulting in a chirping sound. The cricket's wings themselves are well developed, so it can fly, but they use this ability in rare cases. With the help of their "singing" males attract females and warn other males not to approach the pair.

Females lay eggs directly in the soil in summer. The higher the air temperature, the more eggs the female lays. The clutches are small piles. The total number of eggs laid is 50-200, and in hot regions the clutch may consist of 500-600 eggs. As a rule, eggs develop in 20-30 days, but this process is directly affected by temperature conditions.

In the process of formation of these insects, there is no pupal stage, that is, larvae are immediately formed from the eggs, outwardly similar to adult individuals. The difference is the lack of wings and size. The larvae molt several times and after 1.5 months take on the appearance of an adult insect.

The lifespan of an adult cricket is extremely short - only 1.5 months. The life cycle is 90-120 days. But crickets that live in the tropics live about 6-7 months. The lifespan of field crickets is 14-15 months, but this includes hibernation.

In modern times, crickets do not live behind stoves, since there are no stoves in houses. These insects settle in heating mains, heated basements and boiler rooms for the winter. Crickets love to live on livestock farms, where it is always warm and there is plenty of food.

Surprisingly, an ordinary cricket can also be among your pets. The types and lifestyle of these insects, as well as nutrition, reproduction, maintenance and interesting facts can be found in this article.

Classification

As of June 2022, the genus includes 20 species:

• Locustella accentor (Sharpe, 1888) [syn. Bradypterus accentor
  ] – Kinabal speckled breast
• Locustella alfredi (Hartlaub, 1890) [syn. Bradypterus alfredi
  ] - Bamboo variegated
• Locustella alishanensis (Rasmussen, Round, Dickinson & Rozendaal, 2000)
• Locustella castanea (Büttikofer, 1893) [syn. Bradypterus castaneus
  ] - Moluccan pied beetle
• Locustella caudata (Ogilvie-Grant, 1895) [syn. Bradypterus caudatus
  ] - Long-tailed Pied-breasted
• Locustella chengi Alström et al., 2015
• Locustella davidi (La Touche, 1923)
• Locustella fluviatilis (Wolf, 1810) - River cricket
• Locustella idonea (Riley, 1940)
• Locustella kashmirensis (Sushkin, 1925)
• Locustella lanceolata (Temminck, 1840) - Spotted cricket
• Locustella luscinioides (Savi, 1824) - Nightingale cricket
• Locustella luteoventris (Hodgson, 1845) [syn. Bradypterus luteoventris
  ] - Brown variegated breast
• Locustella major (W.E. Brooks, 1871) [syn. Bradypterus major
  ] - Long-billed warbler, or long-billed warbler
• Locustella mandelli (W. E. Brooks, 1875)
• Locustella montis (Hartert, 1896)
• Locustella naevia (Boddaert, 1783) - Common cricket
• Locustella seebohmi (Ogilvie-Grant, 1895) [syn. Bradypterus seebohmi
  ] - Mountain mottled beetle
• Locustella tacsanowskia Swinhoe, 1871 - Siberian mottled warbler, or Tachanovsky's warbler
• Locustella thoracica (Blyth, 1845) [syn. Bradypterus thoracicus
  ]

In 2022, as a result of phylogenetic studies, 6 species were allocated to the genus Helopsaltes Alström et al., 2022:

• Helopsaltes amnicola (Stepanyan, 1972) [syn. Locustella amnicola
  ] - Sakhalin cricket
• Helopsaltes certhiola (Pallas, 1811) [syn. Locustella certhiola
  ] - Song cricket
• Helopsaltes fasciolatus (GR Gray, 1861) [syn. Locustella fasciolata
  ] - Taiga cricket
• Helopsaltes ochotensis (Middendorff, 1853) [syn. Locustella ochotensis
  ] - Okhotsk cricket
• Helopsaltes pleskei (Taczanowski, 1890) [syn. Locustella pleskei
  ] - Island cricket
• Helopsaltes pryeri (Seebohm, 1884) [syn. Locustella pryeri
  ] - Japanese cricket, or Japanese warbler, or Japanese long-tailed warbler

Cricket fights “without rules”

The aggressiveness of male crickets has given rise to an unusual gambling spectacle - fights. There is a version that they were invented in China approximately 1000 years ago, during the reign of Sun. But cricket fights were also held with no less success in Thailand and Malaysia.

For this purpose, insects were caught at the end of summer. Then the male crickets were released into a mini-arena. They immediately began to fight until the bitter end. The defeated person was thrown out of the arena, fled from it, or was killed by his opponent. The winner was even given a certain title.

Such cricket fights were very expensive, the stakes were very high. The remains of the winners were then stored in silver mini-coffins. During their lifetime, fighting crickets were looked after by specially hired people. The insects were on a specially designed diet, and for colds they were even given medications. To raise the tone and morale of the crickets, females were brought in for 2 hours every day.

Description and area of ​​residence

The true cricket is a typical representative of the family of Orthoptera jumping insects. Its close relatives are grasshoppers and locusts. The insect has an elongated body, a large head, and a gnawing type mouthparts. The antennae are long, thread-like, and vision is well developed. The hind legs with thickened thighs allow them to push off when jumping.

The elytra are dense, leathery, the wings are fan-shaped with veins. Females have an ovipositor, which they use to cut through stems to lay eggs. Few people know what a cricket looks like, but they have heard its chirping at dusk. It creates its trills by rubbing the elytra. The faster the vibration, the higher the sound. The special structure of the elytra makes it possible to produce sounds in a wide range.

The insects are widespread in Asia, Europe, North Africa and America. In Australia they are found only in Adelaide, where they were introduced from other countries. They find cracks for housing, dig holes or hide under stones. Activity falls in the summer months, because at temperatures below +21 0 insects become lethargic and stop feeding. The love of warmth forced crickets to seek refuge in human habitation. With the onset of autumn, they move into houses, heated warehouses and industrial buildings.