What does a cricket look like? What a cricket looks like What a house cricket looks like
The appearance of crickets in the house is difficult to miss: regular “concerts” at night unsettle even the calmest people. Small insects make characteristic sounds; when several individuals live in a home, you can forget about sleep.
It is difficult to catch a cricket; you have to use chemicals, traps and traditional methods. Competent actions will save the owners from unpleasant “neighbors”. How to remove crickets from the house? Let's figure it out.
General information about the insect
IN temperate latitudes There are several types of crickets. The main habitat is green spaces, the basement of a house, but often insects “give concerts” in a corner or on the wall of a room.
Two types of crickets are most often found in human homes: field and house crickets. The second type is always located next to private houses and high-rise buildings; the first type sometimes lives in an apartment. Not all people know what crickets look like: during the day it is difficult to find them in prominent places in the home.
Features of appearance and activity:
- an insect from the order Orthoptera lives in warm, humid places. Basements are the main place where house crickets are found. Body color is grayish-yellow, body length is from 15 to 25 mm. The field cricket is black. Both species have long whiskers, like cockroaches;
- the body is squat, but shorter than that of cockroaches or grasshoppers;
- The hind limbs are longer than the front ones and are adapted for jumping. Insects move shorter distances (the grasshopper jumps further);
- Crickets search for food remains in a person’s home and eat small insects, such as moths. In the absence of food, they attack smaller individuals of their own kind;
- During the day, the mustachioed “singers” hide in cracks and baseboards, climb into cracked window frames, go out hunting at night, and make characteristic sounds.
How to get rid of it: methods of struggle
The first thing that comes to mind is to catch a cricket. Despite the apparent simplicity of the method (you can clearly hear where the sound is coming from), it is difficult to implement the idea. Insects sense air vibrations well, their hearing is sensitive, and it is difficult to get closer than three or four steps to the “singer.” Owners have to use other, more effective methods.
Crickets destroy small pests, for example, but constant night “concerts” and insomnia among residents neutralize the benefits of living close to humans.
Sticky traps
A device with a sticky surface will help you catch the cricket. Place adhesive tape in areas where night singers have been spotted. For greater efficiency, it is advisable to buy several products to catch annoying insects. Adhesive tape is inexpensive and gives noticeable results.
Important! When breeding “singing” insects, traps alone are not enough: toxic aerosols and mechanical removal of ovipositions will be needed.
Folk remedies and recipes
To scare away annoying “singers”, compositions based on medicinal plants are suitable:
- wormwood decoction. For a liter of water you will need 2 tbsp. l. chopped leaves and stems. Boil the mixture for 5 minutes, close the lid, remove from heat, and let it brew for two hours. Pour the strained product into a spray bottle and spray the baseboards, floors, walls, window sills, window frames;
- pyrethrum powder. The herbal remedy does not harm people or pets. Owners often use a special variety of chamomile to repel harmful insects. Crickets also cannot tolerate the characteristic odor of the plant. Sprinkle pyrethrum powder over areas where annoying “troublemakers” have been spotted.
Chemicals
Toxic drugs will be needed if the insects have managed to lay eggs. Compositions based on Dichlorvos - varieties Super, Neo, Varan - are suitable for killing crickets. Universal remedy with or without odor, it has a detrimental effect on adult insects. Repeated treatment of the premises helps to destroy individuals that have hatched from eggs.
Disinsection rules:
- put on a protective suit, plastic transparent glasses, a respirator, protect your hands with gloves;
- the can of Dichlorvos is ready for use;
- close all doors and windows, remove household members from the apartment. Pets and an aquarium with fish are also not needed during the treatment;
- shake the can several times and begin disinfestation;
- Treatment is carried out in areas where crickets have been observed. Be sure to spray the composition on doors, window sills, corners, window frames;
- the optimal distance to the surface is 25–30 cm. Carefully go through all areas, spray the composition into the cracks, behind the baseboards if they lag behind the walls;
- keep the container with the toxic composition at arm's length so that the fumes do not get on your face;
- after disinfestation, leave the premises;
- return after 6 hours, open the windows, pick up dead insects;
- mandatory stage - airing for half an hour;
- All that remains is to collect the egg deposits from the baseboards and in the corners with a vacuum cleaner with a disposable filter, and do wet cleaning;
- re-treatment of the apartment is carried out after 40–70 days. During this period, adult insects emerge from eggs that remain undetected;
- After destroying the crickets, owners should think about how to prevent the reappearance of annoying “singers” in an apartment or house. The “Prevention Measures” section describes available ways to protect your home from insects.
How to deal with? Check out a review of effective chemicals and recipes for folk remedies.
Crickets in the house: a sign
They say that the “concerts” given by the little musician indicate good news for the owners. A cricket in the house is a sign of joy and goodness: this is exactly what the folk saying says.
But often owners dream of getting rid of such “happiness” that interferes with sleep. If two or three individuals have settled at home, oviposition has appeared, and crickets have multiplied, then the signs fade into the background.
Prevention measures
Following simple rules will save the owners from the appearance of annoying “singers” in the house:
- attach a mosquito net to the windows;
- cover all cracks in doors, window frames, floors;
- close the trash can tightly, remove crumbs and leftover food from the table;
- prevent dampness in rooms;
- warn sanitary services and workers management company about the accumulation of water in the basement;
- double your vigilance when living on the lower floors: basement dwellers (crickets) often climb into your home if there are holes or cracks in the floor or baseboards near the sewer pipes;
- illuminate the yard with medium power lamps, best option– yellow light;
- cover the ventilation grilles with a mesh with small cells;
- compost heaps and a scattering of sawdust should be located at a distance from a private house, in the far corner of the site;
- trim greenery near the house, avoid planting close to the structure of climbing plants;
- In the evening, close the blinds and draw the curtains: bright light attracts insects.
If preventive measures are taken, the night “singers” from the order Orthoptera will not disturb sleep. If a cricket has entered the house, it is important to get rid of the insect before several individuals take up residence in the home. If annoying “neighbors” are actively multiplying and disturbing the peace of household members, you will have to carry out independent treatment with insecticides or call sanitary workers for disinfestation.
Cricket in the house: well-being or sleepless nights? Helpful information in the following video:
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. In the warm season, these insects live on 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.
Appearance of a cricket
Crickets are extremely cunning and agile creatures. It is very difficult to see them, since they move very quickly, and even more so to catch them. However, if you very quietly approach the place where the “trills” are coming from, in principle, you can see it. If you're lucky. The average body length of an adult cricket is 2 cm, but there are also individuals up to 2.5 cm long. The body color of these insects can vary: from straw-fawn with brown stripes to yellowish with mottled or dull brown spots (or specks).
Since crickets are orthoptera insects, their elytra in a calm state have a flat, elongated shape and lie on the back. It is curious that the left one is always covered by the right one. The cricket's head is painted with three dark stripes. The wings of crickets are well developed and are used for constant flights from one place to another. Antennae (cerci) are present in both females and males. Crickets lay eggs, so females have a long ovipositor, the length of which varies from 10 to 15 mm. The eggs are 2.5 mm long. Their shape resembles yellow-white.
How do crickets reproduce?
Males attract the attention of females with their “serenades”. When a couple is formed, fertilization occurs. The female lays up to 30 eggs at a time in crevices in the soil. It is curious that crickets, having finished their task, die. After just two weeks, the eggs hatch into larvae that will have to overwinter on their own. As they grow up, they dig tunnels. In spring, the larvae turn into adults - full-fledged insects.
Surprisingly, an ordinary cricket can also be among your pets. Types and lifestyle of these insects, as well as nutrition, reproduction, maintenance and Interesting Facts can be found in this article.
History of appearance and types of crickets
These insects appeared on the planet approximately 300 million years ago. They belong to the Orthoptera order and the True crickets family, which includes 8 subfamilies. Zoologists describe this moment 2300 different species discovered. Approximately 50 species of crickets live in Russia. Of these, the most popular are brownie and field.
Habitat area
Crickets are indigenous to the Far East and North Africa. But then they spread throughout Europe. Somewhat later they appeared in North America and South Australia. The field cricket prefers steppe and forest-steppe zones and mountainous European regions. In the center of Russia it is most often found in the north of the country, on the border of its range.
IN Tula region field cricket can be found mainly in the southern zone of the zones, in Vanevsky, Kimovsky, Efremovsky, Odoevsky, Kurkinsky and Novomoskovsky districts.
Field cricket: habitat and places of settlement
Crickets are heat-loving insects. They live in places where the temperature reaches at least 20 degrees. At lower temperatures, insects become inactive and almost completely stop feeding. In villages, crickets love places near stoves in winter and go to live in nature in summer. They prefer warmth, light and sun. They willingly settle in meadows and fields.
In the mountains, crickets usually choose to live on gradual, dry slopes where limestone is exposed or settle in adjacent heaths and meadows. But where they warm up well. Now crickets have become more “modernized” and prefer to live not behind stoves, but on livestock farms. It is not only warm for them there, but also a lot of food. Or they settle in warm basements, boiler rooms and heating mains.
Appearance
The field cricket is quite small in size. Body length is from 17 to 23 centimeters. Males are larger than females. Crickets have a large head and a dense body. They are mostly black in color, but there are also brown ones. They have short front wings. Field crickets, unlike other species of their counterparts, are larger. The color is darker, the thighs are red below and inside.
Females have a thin ovipositor at the back, widened at the tip. And the shins are reddish in color. Males are distinguished by the presence of a mirror on the elytra. The sound apparatus is similar to that of a grasshopper. But in crickets it is more complex.
These insects have long antennae and three pairs of legs. The entire body (abdomen, chest and head) is covered with a durable chitinous cuticle. The jaws (mandibles) of crickets are quite powerful. All senses are well developed - touch, smell and vision. Thanks to their antennae, crickets are great at smelling and tasting food.
Field cricket: lifestyle features
He is the only insect that builds a nest for himself, in which he lives throughout his short adult life. Crickets are solitary creatures by nature. Each individual has its own territory. If she belongs to a male, then he can allow several females to live nearby.
Crickets live in nature in burrows up to 20 centimeters deep and 2 cm wide. They never go far from their home. At the slightest danger, the cricket hides in a hole. The entrance to it is masked by a tuft of grass. Crickets are very careful and timid, as they have a lot of enemies - small mammals, birds and lizards.
Fighting technique
When meeting an unexpected brother, a fight always occurs. These insects defend their territory from invasion. During the fight they bite. And they try to bite off their opponent’s antennae or paws. Crickets butt heads, make sharp attacks and kick hard. True, these insects jump poorly, but they move quickly on their paws. Despite eating plant foods, the defeated opponent is eaten by the winner.
Nutrition
The field cricket mainly feeds on plant foods. But from time to time the diet includes other, smaller insects. Adult crickets can even hunt small relatives or eat clutches of eggs laid by females. What does the field cricket eat in captivity? When kept at home, he eats crumbs of cheese and bread, milk, and pieces of various fruits.
Reproduction
During the breeding season, males sit near their burrows and call females with songs. Raising his front wings, the gentleman rubs them. Due to this, a kind of love serenade in the form of chirping is obtained. The female may not come. If the date does take place, then she will soon lay approximately 30 eggs in the ground. Over the entire breeding period, a total of up to 500.
During mating, the field cricket suspends a spermatophore similar to the one found in grasshoppers from the abdomen of the chosen one. But crickets do not have spermatophylax. When the female begins to lay eggs, she sticks her ovipositor vertically into the ground. Then he closes the hole, moves to the next place, and the procedure is repeated.
The larvae appear between two and four weeks. And in appearance they already look like adults in miniature. There is no pupation stage in crickets. The larvae always stay together. During growth they molt three times. And then they begin to separate. Each cricket begins to dig its own hole and prepare for the winter.
After winter, the young field cricket comes to the surface in the spring, when the temperature reaches +4 degrees. The last time the molt occurs, and after it the insects become adults. Then a new breeding season begins.
There are people who keep crickets at home in insectariums (special kindergartens). They are mainly made of plastic. One garden can accommodate hundreds of crickets. It is important to provide sufficient food and water, as well as maintain a comfortable temperature for these insects. It is necessary to include protein foods in the diet. Crickets happily eat dry food for aquarium fish- Gammarus or Daphnia. If insects do not have enough protein food, they will begin to eat their weaker brothers.
How to get rid of crickets
How to destroy a field cricket living at home? There are several ways to do this:
- You can use a natural trap. Condensed milk is poured into a small container. Mixed with water and placed near the place where the cricket lives. An insect attracted by the smell jumps into the prepared syrup.
- Chemical trap. It is used indoors if there are no pets or small children in the house.
- Adhesive strips. They are placed near windows, on doors and walls. Insects stick to them.
- Spray. You can use any insect repellent, even Dichlorvos. But such sprays should be sprayed if there are no children or pets at home.
- Some people use a regular vacuum cleaner to kill crickets. You need to change or remove the nozzle and go through all corners of the house. In this way, even unborn offspring can be destroyed.
Ecology is important for the reproduction of crickets. The field cricket feeds not only on plant foods, but also eats smaller fellows. And even insect corpses, since crickets need protein. But thanks to their insatiable appetite, they can also cause harm to summer cottages considerable. Crickets eat any plant and its roots. Therefore, sometimes dacha owners have to get rid of the invasion of “singers”. You can do this in several ways:
- usage complex activities- chemical and agrotechnical;
- Regular loosening of the soil helps a lot;
- the area can be treated with biological products “Antonem-F” or “Nemabakt”;
- install birdhouses or bird feeders on the site;
- Snakes help very well in the fight (these are the enemies of crickets);
- after harvesting in the fall, you need to clean the area, clearing it of wood, chips and film residues to prevent crickets from overwintering under them;
- You can use box baits;
- wormwood can simply be laid out between the beds or watered with a decoction prepared from this herb;
- You can sprinkle the ground near the stems with hot hot pepper.
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 when they had a cold they were even given medications. To raise the tone and morale of the crickets, females were brought in for 2 hours every day.
Peculiarities
The field cricket is an endangered species. Noted as a rare and localized species. In the Tula region, only 9 habitats of field crickets have been observed. This is a rare species. Crickets are not at all prone to dispersal, but if their numbers increase, especially in hot summers, then insects can fly away and settle even hundreds of meters from their usual habitats. Since they dig holes for themselves, they avoid settling on arable land or in excavation sites.
Life cycle crickets - from 90 to 120 days. But an adult insect lives only a month and a half. There are also “long-livers” who live for 7 months, but they live in the tropics. Field crickets, including wintering, last from 14 to 15 months.
The field cricket sings using its elytra, which it rubs against each other. They are tough and the process produces a beautiful warble. Crickets can sing all day long, often in the evenings and even at night. But at the slightest danger or alarm, they calm down and hide in their holes.
The cricket is perhaps a rare example of an exception among insects, causing in people not disgust (as, for example, the same ones), but on the contrary sympathy and curiosity. Since ancient times, his melodic singing has been associated with the hearth, coziness, and comfort. It’s not for nothing that the cricket is a favorite hero of many children’s fairy tales. The name of this insect comes from the Greek word for “singer”. If we resort to scientific classification, then crickets, like their relatives - grasshoppers, belong to the group of long-whiskered orthoptera insects, so named due to the possession of long mustaches and straight wings.
House cricket - description, characteristics, photo. What does a cricket look like?
House crickets are quite small in size; adult individuals can reach only 16 to 26 mm in length. The color of the domestic cricket is gray-yellow, also in different shades of brown, with streaks or spots of indeterminate shape.
The cricket's head is shaped like a flattened egg. Also on it (the head) there are three dark arcuate stripes. The cricket's eyes are located on the sides of the head; they have a complex facet structure. The cricket's mouth is of the gnawing type in structure. But the real pride of crickets is their large mustaches, which can sometimes be several times larger than the body of the crickets themselves. The cricket's whiskers serve a practical purpose - they are responsible for the sense of touch.
The cricket's wings are also well developed. The back pair of strong membranous wings helps them fly from place to place with ease. Crickets can also make relatively long flights. At rest, the cricket's wings are located along the abdomen; they look like sharp and long tails.
Like other orthoptera insects, the cricket has three pairs of legs. The back legs of a cricket with thickened hips are the strongest; they are designed for jumping, because it is no secret that crickets (as well as their relatives, grasshoppers) are simply excellent jumpers. But the front legs of the cricket also perform functions that are quite unusual for legs—the hearing organs are located on them.
How a cricket sings
Sexual differences in crickets are manifested in the presence of a special sound apparatus in males, capable of producing “signature” cricket trills. Yes, only male crickets sing (or rather play) and in such a simple way attract the attention of females with the eternal goal of continuing their kind. The sound apparatus of crickets itself is similar in structure to that of grasshoppers, but it is even more complex. The sound of crickets is produced due to a special stridulatory vein, which essentially performs the function of a bow, on the left elytra of the cricket.
How long does a cricket live?
The lifespan of the domestic cricket is short - it rarely lasts more than 3 months.
Where do crickets live?
The habitat of the domestic cricket is very wide; they can be found all over the world, in many European countries (including our Ukraine), in North Africa, Asian countries and even in southern Australia. But crickets were once not found on the American continent, but they were successfully brought there by European settlers.
Their favorite habitats are human dwellings (hence the prefix “home” to the name of crickets), warm basements, warehouses, and heating power lines. During the warm season, crickets can live outside human buildings.
What does a house cricket eat?
Crickets are omnivorous insects that feed on both plant foods and can attack small invertebrates and eat other small insects, thus satisfying their need for protein supplements, which are necessary in the diet of every cricket.
Interesting fact: crickets can even attack each other, eating their smaller relatives; as you can see, facts of cannibalism are very common in the world of insects. Now you know the answer to the question of what do crickets eat?
Cricket Reproduction
Crickets have polygamous relationships, each male is the owner of a certain territory, which is inhabited by several females who are part of a kind of harem of this male. If another male encroaches on the territory of this male, fierce fights occur between them.
An obligatory attribute of the mating games of these insects is the famous trills of crickets, performing their musical serenades, the male attracts the female for mating.
Crickets breed throughout the year, but their peak sexual activity occurs in the summer. A fertilized female cricket prepares holes in the ground where she lays her eggs, somewhat similar to bananas. During one oviposition, a female cricket can lay from 40 to 179 eggs.
Further from one to two months (depending on the temperature and in general on environment) larvae begin to emerge from the eggs. Larva with his appearance resembles an adult cricket, but in order to become one, it will have to go through 10 moults, occurring over 7 weeks, during which the body undergoes restructuring. After the last molt, the larva produces a normal, mature cricket.
Breeding crickets at home
In some countries, cricket breeding even takes on industrial proportions, for example, in China they are bred specifically for the purpose of subsequent use as food (Chinese gastronomic traditions are known for their originality). And some people raise them simply as unique, original pets. Below we describe some recommendations for breeding crickets at home.
- No more than 15 females and no more than 3 males can live in one container.
- Containers made of glass, plastic or plywood can be used as an insectarium for crickets, it is only important not to forget to provide them with proper ventilation.
- At the bottom of the insectarium, where the crickets live, it is worth pouring finely sifted peat mixed with sand.
- It is important to comply temperature regime. Since crickets are heat-loving insects to maintain optimal temperature In the insectarium you can use ordinary incandescent lamps with a power of no more than 75 W. Such heating is necessary around the clock.
- It is equally important to monitor the humidity in the insectarium. In general, the humidity there cannot be more than 40%.
What to feed house crickets
You can feed crickets with a variety of vegetable crops and herbaceous plants. Carrots, beets, lettuce, and clover heads are perfect. It is also very advisable to add pork or chicken feed to the diet. It is worth feeding not in large portions, but often - at least several times a day.
- Since ancient times, crickets have been especially revered in China and Japan, in these countries they even organized special competitions for singing domestic crickets, and the rich people there were ready to give entire fortunes for the winners.
- Since ancient times, it was believed that having a cricket in the house brings good luck, prosperity, and well-being.
- According to recent research According to scientists, the trills of crickets have a beneficial, calming effect on the human psyche. Only the purring of a domestic animal has a similar positive effect on a person.
Cricket, video
And in conclusion, we invite you to listen to the sound of a cricket in the video yourself.
When writing the article, I tried to make it as interesting, useful and high-quality as possible. I would be grateful for any feedback and constructive criticism in the form of comments on the article. You can also write your wish/question/suggestion to my email. [email protected] or on Facebook, sincerely the author.
Crickets are one of the families of Orthoptera insects. Its representatives love warmth and moisture, so the greatest diversity of species is found in Africa, the Mediterranean and South America. There are 2,300 species of insects, the most common being the house and field crickets. Having settled next to a person, it does not cause a negative reaction like a cockroach or a fly. The photo fully conveys what a secretive cricket looks like, and to listen to its trills, you should go out into a field or garden in the summer.
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 on 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.
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.
Insect nutrition
IN natural environment Crickets feed on fresh grass shoots and bush leaves. Having settled on the site and significantly increased the population, they will begin to harm garden crops. Adults prefer to nibble on seedlings rather than weeds. Their diet is not limited to plant foods; insects require protein for development. Its source is small insects, corpses or their own offspring.
What does a cricket eat when it finds itself at home? In this case, he shows omnivorousness, eating crumbs of bread, droplets of liquid dishes and drinks, pieces of vegetables and fruits with equal pleasure. Meat or fish that falls on the floor will also be eaten by the little neighbors. Showing the instincts of a hunter, they can catch flies or small invertebrates that end up in the house.
Many seemingly harmless insects turn out to be a source of danger, so the question often arises: do crickets bite? You can rest assured about night singers, they don’t bite people. The jaws of the gnawing type are not adapted for attacking large objects; moreover, aggressiveness is shown only towards males in foreign territory.
Life cycle
Sexual differences in insects are manifested in the presence of a chirping apparatus in males and an ovipositor in females. The dimensions of the appendage are 10-15 mm; with its help, females lay eggs in the ground. The cricket is a type of insect with incomplete metamorphosis. This means that its development takes place in three stages:
- egg;
- larva;
- imago.
Varieties of crickets
Thousands of species of these insects are found in nature, mostly inhabitants of the tropics and subtropics. In hot and humid climates there are large individuals that are bought for their spectacular appearance. Among the many species of crickets greatest distribution got:
field cricket
Insects lead a solitary lifestyle; they settle in meadows and fields, as well as light pine forests. The field cricket digs a hole up to 20 cm deep and 2 cm in diameter. It jealously guards its home, not allowing other males to approach it. The body is black (rarely brown), smooth and shiny. The head is round on the forehead with 3 simple eyes (ocelia). The field cricket feeds on leaves, seeds, grass roots, and small invertebrates. The body length of the male is 20-23 mm, the female is slightly smaller - 17-21 mm.
The entrance to the hole is masked with a tuft of grass. If the male's chatter does not scare away the uninvited guest, a fight begins. During fights, crickets bump their foreheads, jump on each other, and try to bite off an antennae or paw. A male without part of his limbs is considered a lower creature; he will not be able to fertilize females. Field crickets have many natural enemies, so they are very shy and cautious; when they hear noise, they hide in a hole.
Poorly developed wings do not allow the insect to fly, so it searches for food by running on the ground. During the mating period, females leave home and go in search of a partner. To attract them, males emit ringing trills while sitting near their burrows. A fertilized female lays hundreds of eggs in the ground. After a month, the larvae appear and will have to molt several times before turning into a mature cricket. With the onset of winter, the larvae hibernate in the burrows; by May of next year they will turn into adults.
You can meet field musicians in Central and Southern Europe, Western Asia, and North Africa. Due to frequent droughts, the number of these insects is constantly decreasing.
Interesting fact. The hearing organs of crickets are located on the front legs; they pick up sound waves and vibrations. To hear better, the insect raises one limb up.
House cricket
This is the only species that voluntarily coexists with humans. Insects find shelter, food and a favorable climate in houses. Previously, they settled in the warmest place - behind the stove. In modern conditions it has been replaced by pipes central heating. Insects prefer to spend the warm season outside; they move into houses and basements in September.
The insect's homeland is Central Asia and North Africa, and will spread to colder areas, thanks to its close proximity to people. The house cricket is similar to a grasshopper with flat body. Its size is 16-25 mm, the female’s ovipositor is 11-15 mm. The main body color is yellowish-brown, with noticeable dark spots and stripes on the back, abdomen and head. The wings are well developed, the insect actively uses them for flight. There are 3 pairs of legs, thickened thighs on the hind legs help to jump long distances.
Interesting. The antennae of crickets are an organ of touch; their length exceeds the size of the body.
Only night trills allow people to notice the appearance of an insect in the house. Are reconciliations dangerous for humans or pets? They are completely safe - they do not bite, are not poisonous, and do not damage furniture or things. The only concern is the chirping at night. Insects feed on the remains of human food and catch invertebrates. To reproduce they need wet places. The peak of sexual activity is observed in the summer, but egg laying and breeding continues in human housing.
Having received an unexpected neighbor, people wonder how long does a cricket live in the house? The life of the imago (adult) is short; it will disturb with its trills for no more than 3 months.
Interesting fact. There are many signs and superstitions associated with the appearance of a cricket in the house. Among the Slavs, this is a symbol of imminent marriage, recovery or improved well-being. It was strictly forbidden to kill an insect, otherwise the person would face an imminent illness and other misfortunes.
Stem cricket
The common stem cricket or trumpeter lives in the steppes and foothills, preferring to settle on bushes. Representatives of this species can be found in the steppe part of Russia, the Caucasus, northern Kazakhstan and southern Siberia. The color of the insect is from greenish to light brown. The body length of an adult (imago) is 9-14 mm, the size of the ovipositor is 6-8 mm. In the normal state, the wings are folded behind the back. The hind legs are covered with small spines.
The common trumpeter waits out the hot day under the leaves; active trills calling for females are heard in the evening and at night. Insects are phytophages; they feed on plant foods.
Attention. When ovipositing, females cut plant stems to place eggs in them. If insects are in large quantities settle in a tobacco field or in a vineyard, they cause significant damage to the planted crops.
The eastern trumpeter is a species found on Far East Russia, Japan and China. The insect has an elongated body of a light green color, with a dark stripe visible on the abdomen. The elytra are short and transparent. The brown antennae are much longer than the body. The trumpet size is 11-13 mm. The female lays eggs in the stems and petioles of leaves; the larvae appear in July.
banana cricket
The field cricket (Gryllus assimilis) is common in Central America. His homeland is Jamaica. This is one of the largest representatives of the family. Adults reach sizes of 18-25 mm. In favorable conditions they reproduce all year round. Individuals reach sexual maturity in 1 month. Insects eat plant foods and invertebrates, and there is cannibalism among them. When there is a lack of food, insects eat eggs and larvae.
Interesting fact. The males of this species chirp less than others, for which they are nicknamed “silent crickets.”
Their rapid growth and large size have made these insects the subject of breeding for pet food. Crickets are a favorite part of the diet for turtles, lizards, reptiles and birds.
Grasshopper and cricket - similarities and differences
Both insects belong to the same order Orthoptera. They have an elongated shape, a large head, and well-developed eyes. Males of both families have a chirping organ - elytra. Insects have much in common in the process of reproduction, development and nutrition, but upon close examination it is difficult to confuse them. What is the difference between a grasshopper and a cricket? Grasshoppers are larger in size, some species reach a size of 35 mm. Their body is usually colored greenish for camouflage in the grass. The hind legs of grasshoppers are much better developed, because they live in open spaces and need powerful limbs for jumping.
The time of their activity also differs - crickets play music at night, and grasshoppers during the day. Their graph is related to the structural features of the wings. The apparatus of grasshoppers must be dry in order to make sounds. They are waiting for the warmth to dry the dew from the grass.