100 More Species #54: Fall field cricket

[urbpan]

Fall field cricket Gryllus pennsylvanicus

Field crickets are medium sized flightless orthopterans that live in low foliage and under debris and leaf litter. Their song is the familiar sound of a quiet morning in the suburbs, or an empty theater after the last act bombs. They are omnivores feeding on plants and seeds and detritus, as well as on insect eggs and insects too slow, helpless, or dead to escape from them.

There are two species of field cricket in our area, both identical in appearance and song, but one overwinters as a juvenile and the other survives the winter in the egg stage. The juvenile grows up and sings in spring, while the other becomes a singing adult in fall. Both species live only a single year. Apparently in some parts of the country field cricket populations occasionally explode, with hundreds of thousands of insects suddenly swarming over yards and into buildings. I'd like to see that some day.


The long middle spike coming from the abdomen of this fall field cricket is her ovipositor, which she will use to lay eggs in damp soil. The orange glow is the bucket I put her in to try to get a picture without her hopping away.