Cricket (insect)

Crickets, family Gryllidae (also known as true crickets), are insects that are closely related to katydids or bush crickets (family Tettigoniidae). They have somewhat flattened bodies and long antennae. There are about 900 species of crickets. They tend to be nocturnal. Crickets are often confused with grasshoppers, which they are also related to, because they have a similar body structure including jumping hind legs.

 Cricket chirping 
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 made 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.

 Jurassic chirp reconstructed 
Night-time in the Jurassic included the sound of chirping bush crickets. This is according to scientists who have reconstructed the song of a cricket that chirped 165 million years ago. "A remarkably complete fossil of the prehistoric insect enabled the team to see the structures in its wings that rubbed together to make the sound".Gill, Victoria 2012. Jurassic cricket's song recreated. BBC Nature.  Jun-Ji Gu et al. 2012. Wing stridulation in a Jurassic katydid (Insecta, Orthoptera) produced low-pitched musical calls to attract females. PNAS  

 References 

 Other websites 

 Intro on house crickets
 How to raise your own crickets
 Crickets in the Classroom
 Intro Information
 drawings and activities

 The cricket   suicide (video) 
 Singing Insects of North America  An online field guide

Category:Orthoptera