Crickets Darryl P. Sanders Department of Entomology, University of Missouri-Columbia Crickets are members of the order Orthoptera, which in its broad interpretation also includes grasshoppers, katydids and cockroaches.
Crickets have chewing-type mouthparts and normally feed on plants or decaying plant materials.
The chirping sounds for which they are famous are made by adult males rubbing their wings together to attract the females. Like their grasshopper and katydid relatives, crickets are equipped with long hind legs fitted for jumping. All adult females have long swordlike ovipositors at the tip of their abdomens. Crickets may accidentally invade homes, but only rarely will they reproduce there. They usually enter through open or poorly fitted doors or through cracks in doors, windows, foundations or siding.