What Was She Thinking?!

Aaaaaiiiiiieeeehhiiuhhh! Why do you think I live in Denmark, cold Scandinavia? Seriously!

Hello, no trouble with insects. I have seen them only in summertime.
Have a great 08

I'd be okay with that one, I think, but once you go beyond three pairs of legs things get a little tricky...

I have always associated crickets with something romantic, idyllic - until my son after a trip to the south told me they were disgusting to look at. I took a closer look on pictures, and bwdr! they are disgusting to look at. So whenever I hear crickets mentioned in a song or book or whatever, they could just as well have written: They spiders were singing in the fragrant dusk of that midsummer evening...

Cricket (insect)
Gryllidae

The common black cricket, Gryllus assimilis
Scientific classification
Kingdom:Animalia
Phylum:Arthropoda
Class:Insecta
Order:Orthoptera
Suborder:Ensifera
Superfamily:Grylloidea
Family:Gryllidae
Bolívar, 1878
Subfamilies
See Taxonomy section

Crickets, family Gryllidae (also known as "true crickets"), are insects somewhat related to grasshoppers and more 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 and are often confused with grasshoppers because they have a similar body structure including jumping hind legs.

Contents [hide]
1 Cricket chirping
2 Diet and life cycle
3 Popular culture
4 Taxonomy
5 Footnotes
6 See also
7 External links

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 ridges. The chirp 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 (Berenbaum 1995). This sound producing action is called "stridulation" and the song is species-specific. Hence, crickets do not rub their hind legs together as is commonly believed.

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. The courting song is used when a female cricket is near, and is a very quiet song.

Crickets chirp at different rates depending on their species and the temperature of their environment. Most species chirp at higher rates the higher the temperature is (approx. 60 chirps a minute at 13°C in one common species; each species has its own rate). The relationship between temperature and the rate of chirping is known as Dolbear's Law. In fact, according to this law, it is possible to calculate the temperature in Fahrenheit by adding 40 to the number of chirps produced in 15 seconds by the snowy tree cricket common in the United States.[1]

To hear the mating call of other crickets, a cricket has ears located on its knees, just below the joint of the front legs.

In 1970, Dr. William H. Cade discovered that the parasitic tachinid fly Ormia ochracea is attracted to the song of the male cricket, and uses it to locate the male in order to deposit her larvae on him. It was the first example of a natural enemy that locates its host or prey using the mating signal. Since then, many species of crickets have been found to be carrying the same parasitic fly, or related species.


Diet and life cycle



Scanning electron micrograph of a spiracle valve - the organ that allows fresh air to pass into the cricket's respiratory system
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 they usually hatch in groups of 2,000. Female crickets have a long needlelike egg-laying organ (ovipositor).

Crickets are popular as a live food source for carnivorous pets like frogs, lizards, salamanders, and spiders. Feeding crickets with nutritious food in order to pass the nutrition onto animals that eat them is known as gut loading.

Crickets are also eaten by humans in some cultures.


Popular culture

Crickets are popular pets and are considered good luck in Asia, especially China where they are kept in cages (Carrera 1991). It is also common to have them as caged pets in some European countries, particularly in the Iberian Peninsula. Cricket fighting as a gambling or sports betting pastime also occurs, particularly in Macao.

The folklore and mythology surrounding crickets is extensive. [2]

The singing of crickets in the folklore of Brazil and elsewhere is sometimes taken to be a sign of impending rain, or of a financial windfall. In Brazilian history, the sudden chirping of a cricket heralded the sighting of land for the crew of captain Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, just as their water supply had run out. (Lenko and Papavero 1996). In Caraguatatuba, Brazil, a black cricket in a room is said to portend illness; a gray one, money; and a green one, hope (Lenko and Papavero 1996). In Alagoas state, northeast Brazil, a cricket announces death, thus it is killed if it chirps in a house (Araújo 1977). In the village of Capueiruçu, Bahia State, a constantly chirping cricket foretells pregnancy, but if it pauses, money is expected (K.L.G. Lima, unpublished data). The mole cricket locally known as "paquinha", "jeguinho", "cachorrinho-d'água", or "cava-chão" (genera Scapteriscus and Neocurtilla, Gryllotalpidae) is said to predict rain when it digs into the ground (Fowler 1994).

In Barbados, a loud cricket means money is coming in; hence, a cricket must not be killed or evicted if it chirps inside a house. However, another type of cricket that is less noisy forebodes illness or death. (Forde 1988) In Zambia, the Gryllotalpa africanus cricket is held to bring good fortune to anyone who sees it (Mbata 1999).

In English-speaking comedy, the sound of crickets may be used to humorously indicate a dead silence when a response or activity is expected. For example, if a comedian in a TV show tells a bad joke, instead of the audience laughing, crickets may chirp.

The Disney corporation has used a number of notable cricket characters in their animated movies through the ages. Most of these characters represent good. For example, in the movie Pinocchio, Jiminy Cricket is honored with the position of the title character's conscience. In Mulan, Cri-kee is carried in a cage as a symbol of luck, as in many Asian countries.

The Crickets were the band of legendary Rock n' Roll pioneer Buddy Holly.

A baseball team in the Texas-Louisiana League use the name The Crickets.


Taxonomy



African field cricket Gryllus bimaculatus
Subfamilies of the family Gryllidae:

Eneopterinae —
Gryllinae — common or field crickets; brown or black; despite the name, some of them enter houses (e.g. Acheta domesticus, the house cricket)
Nemobiinae — ground crickets
Oecanthinae — tree crickets; usually green with broad, transparent wings; frequent trees and shrubs.
Phalangopsinae
Podoscirtinae — anomalous crickets
Pteroplistinae
Trigonidiinae — sword-tail crickets
In addition to the above subfamilies in the family Gryllidae, several other orthopteran groups outside of this family also may be called "crickets":

Mogoplistidae — scaly crickets
Myrmecophilidae — ant crickets
Mole crickets
Tettigoniidae - katydids or bush crickets
Cave crickets (also called camel crickets)
Sand crickets
Mormon crickets
Weta crickets
Jerusalem crickets
Parktown prawns

Australian brown field cricket

Footnotes

^ http://www.snopes.com/science/cricket.asp
^ "Cricket singing means rain: semiotic meaning of insects in the district of Pedra Branca, Bahia State, northeastern Brazil" [1],

See also


Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
Gryllidae
Insect fighting
Nematomorpha
G. W. Pierce

External links

Intro on house crickets
[2]
Singing Insects of North America An online field guide

Categories: Crickets

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As a man I have to say that we're just glad to be of help