Field cricket: photo and description of the insect

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Insects

A curious little insect, which, on the one hand, can be unpleasant to the human eye, but on the other hand, delight our ears with its melodic sound. When we walk in a park or forest clearing in warm and dry summer weather, we hear hundreds of unusual “bugs” making sounds with different timbres and frequency, proudly called crickets .

Where does the house cricket live?

The house cricket lives in countries such as Egypt, Morocco, Sudan, Libya, Tunisia and Algeria.
The insect is often found in Russia, France and Germany, Belarus and Poland, Romania, Italy, as well as in other European countries. Large populations of this insect are recorded in India and Pakistan, China, Korea, Japan, as well as in southern Australia. Recently, the house cricket has been living on the North American continent, where it was brought from Europe. The main habitat of house crickets is human dwellings, warm basements, warehouses or industrial premises, as well as heating power lines. In temperate latitudes, with the onset of a warm period lasting from late May to mid-September, the house cricket can live outside buildings. The optimal conditions for the life of these insects are temperatures from +30 o C to +35 o C. When it gets cold, they find cozy shelters in any heated buildings, because when the ambient temperature drops below +21 o C, crickets stop eating and become apathetic , move little, and the growth process of the larvae stops.

Under natural conditions, the basis of the menu of house crickets is any plant food. However, insects require protein supplements in their diet. They satisfy this need by attacking small invertebrates, eating dead insects of other species, or even attacking their own kind. Quite often, young individuals of crickets become an additional dish for an adult relative, and eating egg clutches is common.

Once in human homes, crickets gain access to a limitless source of food. House crickets enjoy eating pieces of vegetables, fruits or bread crumbs left after breakfast, lunch or dinner. If another small insect gets in the way of a house cricket, it will certainly become part of its diet. No less attractive to crickets are droplets of any drinks consumed by humans, with the exception, of course, of alcohol.

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 +210, 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.

Nutrition

All types of stick insects prefer to eat plant foods. Their favorite treat is leaves of trees and shrubs. Each species has its own preferences in this food.

They choose a safe night time to get food. But even at night they cannot be completely safe

Therefore, caution is paramount for them at this time.

They prefer to search for provisions for themselves alone. But among them there are species that do this in large flocks and can disfigure an entire tree in one night.

For domestic stick insects, the presence of greenery all year round is important. Therefore, breeders have to take care of this

They store food frozen and feed it to their pets every day. If your supplies are running low, you can try feeding the stick insects a leaf of hibiscus or tradescantia, they will not refuse such food.

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.

Is this a migratory bird?

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Crickets are migratory birds. From their breeding grounds in Europe, they migrate to the African continent during the cold winter months. The flight can take a long time. For example, for a river cricket it takes 4-5 months. Around mid-April, the birds return to their native lands.

The structure of insects

Invertebrate arthropods are very complex, each species is unique in its own way. But common features in the internal and external structure are still present. Thus, most insects have a mouth, wings, eyes and paws; they develop from an egg or pupa; the division of the body into parts is clearly visible.

External structure

External structure of an insect

External signs are body size (length, width, volume), the color of the insect, and the location of its limbs. The body of most species is conventionally divided into 3 parts - the head, chest and belly. Body length depends on the individual. There are insects whose bodies are almost impossible to see with the naked eye (less than 0.3 mm); there are giants with a body length of up to 30 cm. On the head of the invertebrate are located:

eyes;
mouth;
mustache (a pair on each side of the head).

The shape of the mouth depends on the type of food. The insect can be sucking, piercing-sucking, gnawing or licking.

On the chest there are 3 pairs of legs and wings, if any. The abdomen is sometimes decorated with vestigial limbs.

The wings are an elastic plate attached to a frame formed by a tubular thickening - veins. Insects, as a rule, have 2 pairs of wings, but in some cases the second one is either not suitable for flight or is missing (to fly, an insect has to flap its wings at a speed of about 1 thousand strokes per second). The motor muscles are attached to the external skeleton - the cuticle.

Internal structure

Internal structure of a grasshopper

The body of higher animals functions due to the correct and coordinated operation of the following systems:

Blood. In insects it is not closed, but instead of blood, its analogue, hemolymph, moves through the body. The heart is a pulsating portion of the spinal vessel. During contraction, hemolymph goes to the tissues of the body, and during expansion it is again absorbed into the vessel.
Digestive. It is divided into 3 sections - anterior, posterior, excretory. Thanks to the anterior section, the insect is able to consume and transport food. In the posterior region, food is digested. At the same time, liquid is absorbed and undigested residues are eliminated. Excretion occurs with the participation of Malpighian vessels (tubes in which one end is closed and the other goes into the intestine).
Nervous. Difficult to organize. Insects have instincts, they can live and work together, and quickly change the direction of flight.
Sexual.
Respiratory.

In addition to antennae and eyes, each insect has special sensory organs that help them detect aromas and subtle changes in body position in space and vibration. Some insects have glands that produce various substances, such as wax or silk. And endocrine ones are responsible for growth, molting and puberty.

Interesting fact: insects are heterosexual, and some of them have well-developed parental instinct.

Appearance and features

Photo: Cricket insect

All crickets are quite small in size, but still differ in their appearance depending on which group the insect belongs to.

House cricket, up to approximately 24 mm in size. There are eyes on both sides. “The antennae on the head are longer than their body, which serve the function of touch.” The body is covered with a special substance called chitin. It helps the insect protect itself from harmful environmental factors and also prevents water loss.

Video: Cricket

The color is gray-yellow, and the body itself has streaks of brown shades. They have wings that help them move at high speed. When folded, the wings protrude beyond the body itself and resemble a long tail. House crickets do not use their wings.

They have three pairs of limbs, the back pair is longer, so thanks to them the cricket can move quickly and over long distances. The front pairs of paws act as hearing organs. The back part of the body is called the “ovipositor”. Females and males have them, but they differ in size. In females, the ovipositor is longer - approximately from 1 to 1.4 cm, in males it is 3 - 5 mm less.

The field cricket differs from the “domestic” cricket in its impressive size. The size of an adult is up to 2.5 cm. The body is black with brown shades, and covered with gloss. The head is oval with eyes and antennae. Otherwise, the “field bug” is similar to the brownie cricket.

The eastern trumpeter grows up to 1.3 cm. Compared to its counterparts, it is much smaller. The stem cricket received its name due to the fact that it lays clutches of eggs in the plant stems themselves. The second name, “eastern trumpeter,” was given because of its origin (the Far East).

In color it is distinguished by its brown flowers, with shades of green. Also long antennae, 3 pairs of legs, the hind ones of which are the most powerful, wings and elytra are transparent. The elongated body somewhat resembles a grasshopper. Ant crickets are the smallest, up to 5 mm. They do not have wings, and their appearance resembles domestic cockroaches.

Economic importance

The house cricket damages young plants of wheat, cotton, Sorghum sp., and Eruca sativa in India. In Europe, it damages various silk, wool and cotton fabrics and products in warehouses.

The Chinese, Malays and Thais love to watch crickets fight. This activity turned into a kind of sport for them. A female and two males are released onto the battlefield. The winner is the cricket that tries to crawl away, and the winner is the one “remaining in the arena.”

In North America, the house cricket is used by humans for bait when fishing, in Asia - as food; It is widely kept and bred in various countries of the world as live food for domestic animals (reptiles, amphibians, birds, small mammals, arachnids, etc.). Like all insects, crickets are a complete protein. Cricket meat contains omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. Cricket droppings are used as fertilizer.

Related article Names for arthropods (male)

General information about the structure and size of insects

What if there is a cricket in the house - is this good or bad from the point of view of sanitary standards? It’s bad, because adult individuals not only create irritating noise, but also “ruin” the table, kitchen, bathroom and other rooms. Therefore, the answer to the question of what a cricket eats is simple - crumbs, leftover food, waste, etc. Their bodies are covered with a durable chitinous layer, which provides reliable protection.

It will not be difficult to spot the insect. A cricket that has taken up residence in a house, which we will discuss below on how to get rid of an orthoptera, has a body length of 16-25.8 mm and a head in the form of a flattened egg. Other distinctive features include:

small eyes with a faceted structure - as if bulging;
gnawing mouthparts. If you were wondering whether crickets bite or not, the answer is yes. Cases of human bites are extremely rare. But the insects themselves are extremely aggressive and can put up real fights. They are able to chew solid food;
long antennae that act as an organ of touch. Their length in 87% of cases exceeds the body size;
membranous wings allowing easy movement from place to place. If you don’t know how to get rid of crickets in an apartment, then the simplest way – catching them – will not work. Thanks to its wings and sense of touch, the insect immediately senses danger and reacts instantly. Once you learn how to catch a cricket in the house, you will have to try. After all, domestic Orthoptera can make long and sharp jumps and long journeys;
three pairs of strong and jumping legs. Do not come up with ways to catch a cricket in an apartment, they will not be successful;
the hearing organs are located on the shins of the first pair of legs.

If effective measures are not taken, the insect will not only settle in the house, but will also begin to multiply. It is interesting to know how long outdoor and indoor class crickets live. Years of life - up to 3 months.

Before deciding how to get rid of crickets on your property, find out where they came from. This information will help prevent insects from re-infesting your home in the future. Once you know what crickets eat and in what conditions they feel most comfortable, it will be very easy to answer this exciting question.

As soon as the ambient temperature drops below 18-210C, orthoptera pests lose interest in food and mobility. The deposited larvae stop growing and developing. And since the cricket is an insect that leads an active nocturnal lifestyle, the night temperature that is comfortable for it does not last so long in our latitudes. To survive and raise offspring, he moves to warmth. The domestic cricket feels comfortable at a temperature of 28-350C.

It’s not only warm in apartments and houses, but it’s also easy to find food. Especially if you live in the kitchen. Let us remind you what crickets eat in a person’s house:

flies and cockroaches;
ants and crumbs;
food waste from the trash can;
moth, etc.

Do you want to know how long a cricket lives in the presence of heat and food? Long, over 3 months.

How to get rid of it: methods of struggle

Many people try to catch this insect and take it out of their home, but this is not easy, since it does not allow anyone closer than 4 meters to it. This is due to the fact that the cricket has very sensitive hearing, and it senses any vibrations in the air. Therefore, we have to adopt other methods of struggle.

Despite the fact that crickets help in the fight against moths, they also prevent residents from sleeping peacefully at night. Therefore, many people believe that crickets are not so useful and try to get rid of them by any means.

Sticky traps

If you use traps based on a sticky substance, this will help get rid of insects. It is enough to place them in places where these creatures prefer to “give concerts”. To make the fight more effective, it is better to set several traps. Despite the fact that adhesive tape is quite inexpensive, the effect of its use can be significant.

Folk remedies

Instead of fighting crickets, you can try to expel them using folk remedies prepared from various plants. For example:

Wormwood decoction. Take 2 tablespoons of crushed leaves and stems of the plant and pour 1 liter of water. The broth is boiled for about 5 minutes, and then infused for about 2 hours. The product is filtered and poured into a spray bottle. After this, the product is sprayed onto problem areas, which are located in the area of baseboards, floors, walls, window sills, trim, window frames, etc.
Pyrethrum powder. This product is absolutely safe for humans and pets. There is a certain variety of chamomile that is used against various insects. Crickets are no exception and they also cannot tolerate this aroma. The powder simply scatters in the places where crickets prefer to hunt.

Chemicals

When there are too many insects and traditional methods of control do not give the desired result, they resort to the use of chemicals based on Dichlorvos. These universal compounds destroy adult individuals. Repeated treatment after a week (indicated in the instructions) helps to get rid of individuals emerging from eggs.

How to use medications correctly

Since chemical control agents are somewhat toxic, their use is associated with the observance of certain personal safety measures. For example:

When working with substances, you need to wear a protective suit, goggles, a respirator and protective rubber gloves. A can of Dichlorvos is always ready for use. All residents, including pets, are removed from the apartment

All windows and doors are tightly closed. After this, they begin to disinfest the premises. Particular attention should be paid to places where insects like to appear and where they can hide. Surfaces are processed from a distance of about 25-30 cm. In this case, everything must be done carefully, without making mistakes. The container with the chemical must be held so that the substance does not come into contact with the face. After treatment, the room must be left and closed. After 6 hours (indicated in the instructions), the apartment opens, as well as the windows, for ventilation. The room is ventilated for half an hour (indicated in the instructions). After this, with the help of a vacuum cleaner, the egg-laying is collected and wet cleaning is done. After 40-70 days, it is necessary to re-treat to destroy the individuals emerging from the eggs. After the complete destruction of insects, it is necessary to think about how to ensure that insects do not appear in the home again. As a rule, it is enough to adhere to basic rules.

As a rule, it is enough to adhere to basic rules.

External features

Both insects are representatives of the order Orthoptera, each occupying its own family: crickets and grasshoppers. Those who had the opportunity to see both side by side will be able to note that the difference is obvious:

Grasshoppers are greenish in color and have very thin and long hind legs. The cricket has a more squat, brown color, somewhat similar to cockroaches. The hind pair of legs is less developed.
There is a clear difference in size among representatives of Orthoptera. The body length of green orthoptera is about 2.8-3.9 cm, and crickets do not grow more than 30 mm.
There are differences between the grasshopper and the cricket in the mechanism of reproduction. Both species are equally attractive to the female. To do this, insects begin to chirp. The louder and more active the sound, the greater the chances of mating. But the female grasshopper has a more modernized organ for laying eggs. He helps her reliably hide her offspring from her enemies. The female cricket has a needle-shaped ovipositor, through which she lays her young in plants.

What is the cricket singing about?

Songs can only be heard from males. They need a complex “musical instrument” to attract females and build communication with other individuals. The main theme of all trills is the invitation of the female for mating. The louder and more interesting the sound, the higher the chances of procreation.

Males settle separately; they allow the presence of female representatives in their area, but will not tolerate rivals. A special chirping alerts crickets to the boundaries of foreign territory. Another type of trill is war songs. These insects are brave and formidable warriors; they always rush into battle, defending their borders.

Interesting fact. In China, fights of specially trained crickets are held annually. The males are brought together in a kind of arena and teased with straws, forcing them to start a fight. These fights are popular among the Chinese, with thousands of dollars being wagered on the winners. The losing insects face a sad fate; in the fight they lose their legs and antennae. The defeated are given to birds as food or thrown away.

Adult grasshopper

By mid-summer, the larva molts for the last time and becomes an elegant winged insect. In hot weather, grasshoppers mostly sit motionless, with their front legs extended. This is very reminiscent of the posture of their close relative, the praying mantis. Like the praying mantis, the grasshopper has grasping spines on the inner surface of its front legs, albeit small ones. If a hunter comes across a careless filly, the blacksmith quickly deals with it with a bite to the back of the head, eats it, leaving only the head and wings, and freezes again.

Males sometimes emit separate trills to attract females, but the main courtship takes place in the second half of the night. The song produced by a green grasshopper resembles striking metal, sounding very quietly, as if in the distance. This is why the insect got its name.

At dawn, the activity of grasshoppers increases. Diurnal insects, as a rule, are poorly oriented in the dark. The grasshopper is helped by long mustaches and sensitive hearing organs located on the front legs. Some fillies are twice the size of a farrier, but a powerful bite to the back of the head immobilizes any of them. Even cicadas that fly well cannot escape. In areas with sandy soil there is even more nourishing food - young beetles. The mass emergence of these beetles occurs at night, and many of them, upon reaching the surface, immediately become prey.

The tendency towards predation is mainly shown by females, and males have a sweet tooth. Fruits that have fallen to the ground are a real delicacy for them; the strongest individual does not allow competitors to approach the food, driving them away with blows of its hind legs. If you are unlucky in the hunt, the grasshopper is content with vegetation. Thus, this insect can be called an omnivore.

In a number of Asian countries, the grasshopper is considered a popular pet, along with the cricket. Pleasant sounds are produced by males of the species Tettigonia cantans (singing grasshopper) and some others. Chinese breeders have even developed several breeds that sing differently than their wild ancestors. The price of a particularly “euphonious” grasshopper reaches $20.

Middle zone grasshoppers can also be kept at home. Their food is lettuce leaves, unripe ears of wild cereals, berries, pieces of apples, pears and other fruits. Beetles, small locusts and other living creatures will be eaten at night, but if the grasshoppers are hungry, the hunt will take place at any time of the day. When the time comes for females to lay eggs, it is better to lay them one at a time, otherwise the struggle for territory will lead to fights and cannibalism. And the males will live peacefully with each other and chirp until the fall.

What are the features of reproduction?

Crickets are polygamous insects. The male occupies a certain zone and lives surrounded by several females. When other males appear nearby, a battle for territory will definitely take place.

During the battle, the strong insect will bite off the weak one's whiskers and paws. Also, the winner is able to eat the loser. Often in some countries they organize cricket battles and place bets on the outcome of the game. This type of entertainment is most common in China.

In this video you will hear the sounds of a cricket:

Mating occurs mainly in the summer, but can occur all year round. Contact takes place in a previously prepared burrow. A few days later the female lays eggs. The quantity directly depends on external factors, namely air temperature. Usually the number fluctuates around 50-600.

Externally, the eggs resemble small white bananas. Nymphs appear after 1-13 weeks. The larvae do not have wings. 7-10 moults occur.

How long do crickets live, as well as their habitats?

Crickets are distributed across almost all continents, although they appeared most recently in America, when they were brought by settlers from Europe.

A house cricket lives no more than 3 months, and a field cricket lives for almost a year and a half. The inhabitants of the tropics live a little more than six months.

As a rule, house crickets settle near human habitation. These are omnivorous insects that can feed on both plant and animal foods. Their diet consists of small insects as well as tiny invertebrates.

Crickets feel comfortable at temperatures of about +20 degrees. When the temperature drops, insects become inactive. At the same time, even the development of larvae is inhibited. If the temperature drops to below zero, the insect will hibernate.

They are found not only in human homes, but also in outbuildings for various purposes. At the same time, they prefer places with high humidity and the opportunity to find shelter for themselves. Crickets are even found on the top floors of multi-storey buildings, settling on the balcony. But this is rather an exception, since they prefer boiler rooms, warm basements, etc., with the required level of humidity.

Growing crickets at home

Recently, it has become popular to raise various insects in artificial conditions by constructing primitive insectariums. Crickets are insects that take root in such conditions without any problems, especially since they feel comfortable around humans. They are often bred to be used as food for other pets.

An insectarium is a simple, small structure made of glass or plastic, the bottom of which is filled with a mixture of peat and sand. To make it light and warm, it is enough to install an incandescent lamp. It is desirable to install ventilation, as well as maintain humidity at 40%. It is enough to place 3 males and no more than 15 females in one container.

The diet of adults should include leftovers from various homemade foods, as well as apples and carrots, but only grated and not in large portions.

The diet should contain plant foods, in the form of vegetable tops and salad, as well as burdock leaves. Protein is necessary for their life, so the diet should contain components such as fish meal, chicken eggs or gammarus.

Naturally, they simply need moisture, so there should be a moistened sponge in the insectarium.

As a rule, every zoo has insectariums of impressive size. This is necessary in order to feed some animals and birds with natural ingredients.

How to breed and keep crickets

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.

Sounds

In the East, crickets were kept at home for the sake of their singing, just like birds. The best warblers are Indian (palm) and two-spotted crickets. Only males sing. The loss of even one wing leads to the male losing the ability to make sounds, which makes him unsuitable for reproduction: females are not interested in such a male.

Young male crickets do not sing very musically; they are still learning, imitating their elders. When threatening an opponent, males tut sharply, which is perceived by humans as an annoying chirping. The most complex and pleasant song for the female, it sounds quiet but melodious, and includes ringing and buzzing trills. In addition, the male performs a courtship dance, spins around in front of the female, and taps her on the back with his antennae. Several females live in the territory of one male, and he vigilantly watches them, not letting them leave the boundaries of the area. But sometimes females move from male to male, attracted by a special high-pitched song designed to lure other females and return their own. In captivity, crickets sing during the day.

Males make sounds by rubbing the chirping cord at the base of one elytra against the teeth on the surface of the other. When the trembling bases of the elytra are raised upward, a sharp vibrating movement occurs. This is what causes sound.

Cricket chirping

Sounds made by a house cricket

Voice (sound) of a cricket

Cricket chirping

Lifestyle

Representatives of Orthoptera lead a very warlike lifestyle. Each male occupies a certain area and fiercely protects it from other brothers. Sensing a stranger on his land, he first emits a loud and aggressive chirping. If it doesn't work, he goes on the attack.

They overwinter in burrows and only after the ground has warmed up enough do they come to the surface

Crickets do not tolerate cold well, so maintaining a high average daily air temperature is extremely important for them. Because of their ability to chirp all day and night, some hobbyists prefer to grow them indoors.

Despite its belligerence, the field cricket itself often becomes food for larger insects, as well as birds and lizards. In order to have time to escape and hide in its own hole, the field cricket has well-developed organs of touch.

Life history of a species in a zoo

In the Moscow Zoo, the house cricket has been bred since the mid-80s of the last century as a food insect. It is included in the diet of many amphibians and reptiles. The house cricket can be seen on display in the Birds and Butterflies pavilion at the Insectopia exhibition.

As feeding insects, house crickets are kept in large groups of 500 or more same-aged individuals in each cage. The cages are filled with cardboard egg pads to create a larger area, allowing the crickets to spread out throughout the cages.

Temperature of keeping and breeding +30°+32° C. Dry food (a mixture of bran and gammarus) is poured onto the bottom of the cages instead of the substrate. Juicy food (grated vegetables) is distributed evenly over the cage area once a day. Crickets drink water from wet filter paper. When air humidity is low, the cages are sprayed with water daily.

Text author: N. N. Vasyukova

Cicada

If the song comes from above, then most likely it is performed by a cicada, one of the worst enemies of plants. Adult insects suck juices from the leaves of grasses, shrubs and trees. The larvae hide in the ground and damage the roots.

Southern cicadas are large (body length - 2-6.5 cm, wingspan - up to 18 cm), and in Central Russia and to the north there live small cicadas - no more than 1 cm in height.

Photo: www.globallookpress.com

The cicada's body is wide and short, with two pairs of transparent wings on the sides. The head is wide, with large bulging eyes. The legs are strong, but cicadas cannot jump high, and they fly only so-so. More often they prefer to walk.

The cicada is much tougher to the touch than it looks, and its wings are so dense that you feel like you could cut yourself with them. But in reality they are harmless to humans.

Both male and female cicadas chirp, although the latter do this extremely rarely. But the males, wanting to attract “ladies,” fill the air with a very loud song - up to 100 decibels. Sometimes it can be heard from a distance of 800 meters.

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.

The cricket feeds mainly on plant foods, but its diet also includes other insects. Adults even hunt small relatives, and they also eat their eggs.

This material tells about what a cricket eats, where it lives and how it can serve humans. Perhaps it will help those who decide to keep these insects at home in an insectarium.

What harm does the field cricket cause to humans?

The field cricket is considered one of the most dangerous pests, along with insects such as the mole cricket and the Colorado potato beetle. They actively eat young cultivated plants and can completely destroy the entire crop in the beds.

It is worth noting that field crickets do not live or move in groups, which means their mass appearance on the site could be provoked by humans themselves.

The reasons for the invasion of these insects may be: