Field cricket
Field crickets are small, flightless insects belonging to the subfamily Gryllinae, which also includes katydids and grasshoppers. These insects are found in various humid, warm environments such as pastures, lawns, roadsides, and woods across much of the world. Field crickets undergo a life cycle that starts with larvae hatching in the soil during early summer, which then molt several times as they grow. They are omnivorous, feeding on a variety of organic materials, including plants and small insects, but can sometimes damage crops or clothing.
As autumn approaches, field crickets burrow into the ground to hibernate, emerging in the spring to complete their development into adults, which measure between 1/2 and 1 inch long. Notable for their shiny black heads and thoraxes, adult crickets are equipped with thin, light-brown wings. Mating occurs from May to July, when males attract females through a distinct song produced by rubbing their wings together. Female crickets lay hundreds of eggs in the soil, continuing the cycle. Despite their adaptations, field crickets face predation from various birds, animals, and insects, with a typical adult lifespan of 6 to 8 weeks.
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Field cricket
Field crickets are small, black, flightless relatives of katydids and grasshoppers in the subfamily Gryllinae. Unlike many of its relatives, the field cricket spends part of its life above ground and part of its life below ground.
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Arthropoda
Class: Insecta
Order: Orthoptera
Family: Gryllidae
Genus: Various (see below)
Species: Various (see below)
The field cricket is found in much of the world in humid, warm pastures, lawns, roadsides, and woods. Young worm-like field cricket larvae hatch in the soil in grassy areas in early summer. The larva molts, or sheds its skin, immediately after hatching and becomes a miniature, wingless version of its parents.
The field cricket nymph spends the summer crawling in its warm, grassy environment, feeding and continuing to molt and grow. It molts seven to eight times before it is time for hibernation, or winter sleep. Field crickets are omnivores, meaning they feed on plants and animals. Their diet includes leaves, grain, insects, fruit, and plants. They can eat and destroy crops or clothes.
Field crickets burrow into the ground in the fall to rest until spring. The field cricket digs a tunnel in the soil with its mouth, crawls in, and closes the entrance behind it. Because of this rest, the field cricket only lives in areas with a lot of short vegetation and soil soft enough for burrowing. In spring, the nymph comes out of the soil, molts two to three times, and becomes a fully-developed field cricket.
An adult field cricket is 1/2 and 1 inch (1 1/3 and 2 1/2 centimeters) long not including its legs. It has a shiny, black head and thorax, or middle section, and thin, veiny, flightless, light-brown wings covering its abdomen, or tail section. The field cricket's body is boxy and flat with a rounded head and a pair of antennae reaching forward from the front of its head. Like other insects, the field cricket has six legs. Its hind legs are larger and more defined than its other two pairs of legs. All the field cricket's legs are jointed.
After reaching the adult stage, it is nearly breeding season for the cricket, which occurs from May to July. The male field cricket attracts the female by rubbing the veins of his forewings across one another. This sound is made louder by echoing off the space between the field cricket's wings and the ground. The song is a pure note four octaves above the musical note middle C. A female responds to the male's song, and they mate. The female may deposit hundreds of eggs in the ground. She pushes each egg into the soil using her ovipositor, or egg-laying appendage. The eggs develop for three or four weeks before the larvae hatch. The nymphs, or young, search for food and prepare for hibernation.
Many birds, animals, and insects prey on crickets, and wasps and horsehair worms attack them. The field cricket's life span after reaching adulthood is 6 to 8 weeks.
Bibliography
"Cricket." A-Z Animals, 6 Apr. 2023, a-z-animals.com/animals/cricket. Accessed 1 Apr. 2024.
"Field Crickets." Conservation Commission of Missouri, mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/field-crickets. Accessed 1 Apr. 2024.