Cricket

Crickets, family Gryllidae, are insects somewhat related to grasshoppers and more closely related to katydids or bush crickets (family Tettigoniidae).They can at one pount become carnivorous. They have somewhat flattened bodies and long antennae. There are about 900 species of crickets. They tend to be nocturnal and are often confused with grasshoppers because they have a similar body structure including jumping hind legs. Crickets do not rub their hind legs together to chirp. The left forewing of the male has a thick rib (a modified vein) which bears 50 to 300 ridges. The chirp, which only male crickets can do 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.

This sound producing action is called "stridulation" and the song is species-specific. There are four types of cricket 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. An aggressive song is triggered by chemoreceptors on the antennae that detect the near presence of another male cricket and a copulatory song is produced for a brief period after successful deposition of sperm on the female's eggs. To hear the mating call of other crickets, a cricket has 'ears' located on its knees, just below the joint of the front legs. Their auditory sensation is mediated by tympanic membranes located in their knees.

Crickets are omnivores and scavengers feeding on organic materials, as well as decaying plant material, fungi, and some seedling plants. Crickets also have been known to eat their own dead when there is no other source of food available. Crickets mate in late summer and lay their eggs in the fall. The eggs hatch in the spring and have been estimated to number as high as 2,000 per fertile female. Female crickets have a long needlelike egg-laying organ. Crickets are popular as a live food source for carnivorous pets like frog, lizard, turtle, salamander, and spider. Feeding crickets with nutritious food in order to pass the nutrition onto animals that eat them is known as gut loading.