Jerusalem Crickets Draw the Most Questions
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Jerusalem crickets draw the most questions uestion: My Jerusalem crickets and as stridulation — pro- American humpbacked characteristic drumming goodness! I bush crickets. duced by rubbing their camel cricket in a group in which the insect beats found the most True crickets, like all wings against their legs of large, ightless insects its abdomen against the Q disgusting bug insects, have six legs, two which contain rows of of the family Stenopel- ground. lying on my patio this antennae and three body corrugated bumps. matoidae. Jerusalem These nocturnal insects morning! I called my parts and are very closely Most crickets are active crickets are also called spend most of their lives neighbor over and she said Debby Finley related to grasshoppers, at night and hide during “Child of the Earth” by in the ground and use it was a potato bug. Is it? Master Gardener sharing distinctively the day under rocks and the Navajo Indians or their strong mandibles to Can you tell me about it? large back legs. Crickets logs. “Potato Bugs” because feed primarily on dead Answer: Of all the in- looking insects but they and grasshoppers also Katydids, or bush they have been found in organic matter but can sects brought into the are not poisonous, nor do have leathery front wings crickets, belong to the potato elds feeding on also eat other insects, in- OSU Extension Service they bite, unless pestered called “tegmina” which family Tettigoniidae and the roots and tubers of cluding their mates! Their Master Gardener Plant or provoked. Most often help protect their back were previously known the crop. highly adapted feet are or Insect Clinics, the they will turn and try to wings. as long-horned grasshop- This is confusing, as used for burrowing be- Jerusalem cricket causes run away to hide. There are three dier- pers. In Latin, tettigonia often the potato beetle neath moist soil and they by far the most curiosity Orthoptera is an order ent families of crickets: means leaopper, and — which only feeds on can emit a foul smell. because of its unusual of insects that comprises Gryllidae (eld, house these insects are ex- above-ground parts of Jerusalem crickets are features, especially the grasshoppers, locusts and and tree crickets), Gryl- tremely good at camou- plants — is also referred an especially favorite disproportionally-large, crickets, including the lacrididae (camel crick- age since their shapes to as a potato bug and is meal for owls, coyotes bald, shiny head with closely related katydids. ets and cave crickets), and colors are similar to a true pest as it destroys and foxes because they two dark, beady eyes that The order is subdivided and Gryllotalpidae (mole leaves. The name katydid thousands of potato come out of the ground at are widely set just below into two suborders: 1) crickets). Most kinds of comes from their loud plants annually. night to roam around. Of- long, slender antennae. Caelifera, which includes crickets lay eggs in the three-pulsed song, often Similar to true crick- ten coming to the surface People are frightened grasshoppers and locusts soil, and male crickets sounding like “ka-ty-did.” ets, Jerusalem crickets on warm evenings or af- at rst when they run and 2) Ensifera, which “chirp” to attract females The Jerusalem crick- produce songs during ter a rain, they are rarely across these bizarre includes true crickets, — a familiar sound known ets are a type of North mating in the form of a a problem for humans. NSV^PUN(WWSL^VVKLTILYZ[VHJOPL]LHYPJOZTVR`ÅH]VY6\YKLSPJPV\ZIYLHRMHZ[HZZVY[TLU[PUJS\KLZ! (WWSL^VVK:TVRLK)HJVUVa ¶;OL6ɉJPHS)HJVUVM)HJVUMLZ[V\YIHJVUPZSLHU^P[OHYPJOZTVR`5\LZRL»ZÅH]VY *VYULK)LLM/HZOSI 7HUJHRL4P_Va ¶:LY]LHWSH[[LYVMHWWYV_PTH[LS`[LUZH]VY`Å\Ɉ`I\[[LYTPSRWHUJHRLZ 4HWSL:`Y\WVa 5V[]HSPK^P[OHU`V[OLYVɈLY6ɈLYLUKZ1HU\HY`VY^OPSLZ\WWSPLZSHZ[.