Tree Cricket Courtship

Tree crickets, genus Oecanthus, are having quite the year here along the Colorado Front Range. Last month I went to Garden of the Gods park in Colorado Springs and could hardly go twenty feet without hearing a male tree cricket singing in the tall weeds or from a yucca blade. I even managed to capture videos of their singing and courtship.

Male tree cricket singing

There are five species of tree crickets in Colorado: the Prairie Tree Cricket, Oecanthus argentinus, Western Tree Cricket, O. californicus, Snowy Tree Cricket, O. fultoni, Black-horned Tree Cricket, O. nigricornis, and the Four-spotted Tree Cricket, O. quadripunctatus. Determining the species of a given individual is difficult to say the least because identification frequently hinges on the markings present (or absent) on the first two segments at the base of the antenna. I know! The whole insect is only about twenty millimeters maximum.

It is much easier to tell which gender is which. Females are very slender, with the front pair of wings hugging the body tightly. The short, stout ovipositor, used to insert eggs into berry canes and other plant stems, is easily visible.

Female tree cricket

Males on the other hand have the front wings greatly expanded into paddle-shaped musical instruments that make them look more like green lacewings than crickets. The intricate pattern of veins is all about lending support to the membrane that generates, amplifies, and projects the male's song. He lifts his wings into a heart shape at a 90-degree angle to his body in order to sing.

Tree cricket singing

The song is produced when a "scraper" on one wing is drawn across a "file" on the other wing, near where the wings join the thorax. The rapidity with which this happens cannot be captured by ordinary video cameras. Some male tree crickets align their wings with gaps in foliage, or even chew holes in leaves, to reduce acoustic interference and further intensify their call.

Singing male tree cricket with exposed metanotal gland in center of thorax

Like most crickets and other members of the order Orthoptera (grasshoppers, katydids, crickets), males have more than one kind of song. Once a male successfully lures a female, he switches to a softer song to help her orient to him. His raised front wings also expose a metanotal gland in the center of his thorax, which secretes a substance that the female feeds on. This is something of a distraction so that he can transfer a spermatophore, or "sperm packet" to her genital opening. The packet appears as a small, pearly blob near the tip of her abdomen in the video and images below.

Female tree cricket feeding from male's metanotal gland

The spermatophore takes time to drain sperm into her oviduct, and the female would undoubtedly eat it if she did not have the more attractive metanotal secretion to lick instead. She is sufficiently addicted that she feeds for several minutes after mating.

Tree crickets are omnivores, feeding on plants and small insects like aphids. Some species are truly arboreal, living in shrubs or high in trees, but a surprising diversity can be found in grassy fields, meadows, and similar habitats.

Male tree cricket at rest

There are many wonderful online resources to help you appreciate and identify tree crickets. One of the best is Singing Insects of North America, which covers grasshoppers, katydids, and cicadas along with crickets. Oecanthinae.com was created by Nancy Collins, a citizen scientist who has become a leading authority on tree crickets, even discovering a species new to science. Lisa Rainsong writes and illustrates the blog "Listening in Nature," which covers all kinds of acoustic phenomenon in the outdoors.

Male Prairie(?) Tree Cricket singing

Enjoy listening to, and looking for, tree crickets in your own neighborhood. Finding them is a challenge, but your patience will be rewarded. Above all, have fun.

Sources: Collins, Nancy. 2014. All About Tree Crickets. Parker, Colorado: Outskirts Press. 48 pp.
Dethier, Vincent G. 1992. Crickets and Katydids, Concerts and Solos. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press. 140 pp.
Elliott, Lang and Wil Hershberger. 2007. The Songs of Insects. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. 228 pp.

How Insects Sing

Observing the insect world requires one to use not just their vision, but their hearing, too. Many insects use sound to communicate with each other, or to ward-off enemies by startling them with a sudden, audible noise. How do insects make such a racket, anyway?

Male field cricket, Gryllus sp., Arizona

Stridulation

Most insects produce sound by rubbing one body part against another, a phenomenon known as "stridulation." The most accomplished stridulators are, of course, the members of the order Orthoptera. Most male grasshoppers, katydids, and crickets have modifications of the body that allow them to create, amplify, and broadcast auditory signals to attract mates and/or ward-off competing males.

Male larger meadow katydid, Orchelimum sp., singing in Nebraska

Short-horned grasshoppers in the family Acrididae rub special pegs on the inside surface of the hind femur ("thigh") against raised veins on the front wings while the insects are at rest. Slant-faced grasshoppers (subfamily Gomphicerinae) are especially accomplished at this and their soft zip-zip-zip songs are easily heard during daylight hours. Below is a video of a male Psoloessa grasshopper stridulating vigorously. Unfortunately, the incessant prairie winds on the eastern Colorado plains overwhelm the 'hopper's song.

Male Psoloessa sp. grasshopper stridulating

Band-winged grasshoppers (subfamily Oedipodinae) also stridulate, but not as loudly. You are more apt to see two males sizing each other up instead of a male courting a female. In the video below, two male Carolina Grasshoppers stridulate aggressively, side-by-side, until the loser leaves the stage.

Male Carolina Grasshoppers, Dissosteira carolina, stridulating aggressively

Katydids and crickets are the most accomplished of all stridulating insects, in part because the wings of the male insect are highly modified to produce sound; and the insect often stations itself in a circumstance that enhances the projection of sound, such as the mouth of a burrow, or between leaves.

Male tree cricket, Oecanthus sp., singing, Colorado

Male tree cricket at rest

Most male katydids are "left-handed," meaning that the left forewing overlaps the right forewingwing. Contrastingly, most male crickets are "right-handed." In both cases, the edge of one wing is equipped with a "file" of fine teeth, while the other wing has a bladelike "scraper" that is drawn rapidly over the file to create the song.

Singing male field cricket, Gryllus sp., Colorado

The songs we hear most often are "calling songs" designed to attract females; but, crickets in particular produce two other types of songs: a "rivalry song" that is directed at another male during and/or after a confrontation, and a soft "courtship song" to entice a female into mating.

Male Drumming Katydid, Meconema thalassinum, Ohio

Percussion

A surprising variety of insects, from treehoppers to stoneflies, to beetles actually smack body parts against a substrate such as a leaf or twig to generate vibrations that are received by potential mates. Sometimes these body-slamming signals are also audible. The Drumming Katydid, Meconema thalassinum, and "wing-tapper" cicadas in the genus Platypedia do not produce sound the way most other members of their clan do. Instead, they strike a blow against a branch, leaf, or twig to call to the opposite sex. This is still audible to us, too.

Wing-tapper cicada, Platypedia putnami, Colorado

Males of most cicada species have a pair of built-in percussion instruments. Large pits take up most of the volume of the abdomen and are covered by "lids" called opercula (singular: operculum). Inside each chamber, a strong muscle pulls and releases another organ called a tymbal. The tymbal buckles under the muscle's tug, generating a noise, then snaps back when the muscle relaxes, making another noise. The muscle twitches at such a high rate that we hear one continuous sound, and a very loud one at that.

Underside of male Tibicen sp. cicada showing operculum

Hearing

How do the insects hear each other? Insects do not have ears, per se, but they do have auditory receptors called typmana located in peculiar places. Short-horned grasshoppers have an opening on each side of the abdomen, near the base. Cidadas likewise have their typana located in the front section of the abdomen. Katydids and crickets have a slit located on the front surface of the tibia ("shin") on each front leg. The tympana is usually represented as a thin, oval membrane located inside the "ear" opening.

Greater Anglewing Katydid, Microcentrum rhombifolium, showing "ear"

Resources

Many singing insects can be identified reliably only by differences in their songs, so it helps to familiarize yourself with their calls. Thankfully, a variety of resources are available to do just that. The "Singing Insects of North America" website is particularly useful. Examples of songs are available as audio files for most species.

Male conehead katydid, Neoconocephalus ensiger, singing, Massachusetts

Lisa Rainsong's superb scientific blog "Listening in Nature" covers bird songs, frog choruses, and other sounds of nature as well as insect songs.

Several books exist that address insect songs, but my two favorites are The Songs of Insects by Lang Elliott and Wil Hershberger (2007, Houghton Mifflin Company), and Crickets and Katydids, Concerts and Solos, by Vincent G. Dethier (1992, Harvard University Press).

You should be hearing field crickets any time now, if you aren't already, along with the daytime calls of some acridid grasshoppers. Enjoy the symphony.

Red-headed Bush Cricket

When you think of a cricket, a robust blackish or brownish insect probably comes to mind. Maybe you imagine the classic “cricket on the hearth,” cheerfully “chirp-chirp-chirping” from some concealed location indoors or outside. You might be surprised to learn that crickets in the family Gryllidae come in a variety of forms, with a corresponding diversity in song. The Red-headed Bush Cricket, Phyllopalpus pulchellus, is a delicate, diminutive, and colorful creature with a trilling song.

Male

This species is active both day and night, and at first glance may be mistaken for some other kind of insect. Adults are only 7-9 millimeters in body length, and they crawl over foliage well off the ground in contrast to the more lumbering, ground-dwelling field crickets that are more familiar.

Females have unmodified front wings, and a sickle-like ovipositor jutting from the rear of the abdomen. Males have the front wings modified for producing a shockingly loud, high-pitched calling song. His wings are asymmetrical in venation, and the left one with a clear spot in the middle.

Female

He elevates his front wings to a nearly vertical position, and often selects a “stage” where two leaves come close together. This configuration helps amplify and project his song.

Phyllopalpus pulchellus is also known as the Handsome Trig, and indeed it is sharply-dressed. Both genders are easily recognized by their bright red, black, and yellow color pattern. Their mouthparts include palps, like most other insects with chewing mouthparts, but the terminal segment is conspicuously broadened. It gives them the appearance of having “boxing gloves” that are in constant motion as the insect senses the chemical properties of the surfaces they roam across.

This is a common insect that ranges from southern New England to northern Florida and west to the eastern borders of Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas. Look for the adults in July, August, and September in low shrubs and bushes.

I have had success finding the Red-headed Bush Cricket simply by scanning various plants, whether the creature is singing or not. It does helps to know what they sound like, though, so take a listen to the digital recording on the ”Singing Insects of North America” website. In my experience, the song is even more shrill than it comes across in the recording.

Sources: Capinera, John L., Ralph D. Scott, and Thomas J. Walker. 2004. Field Guide to Grasshoppers, Katydids, and Crickets of the United States. Ithaca, NY: Comstock Publishing Associates (Cornell University Press). 249 pp.
Elliott, Lang and Wil Hershberger. 2006. The Songs of Insects. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. 228 pp.

Announcing "OrThoptera Thursday"

Today I am introducing what will be yet another semi-regular feature of this blog: everything cricket, katydid, grasshopper, and related insect will be the focus of “OrThoptera Thursday.” Here in the west, short-horned grasshoppers (Acrididae) are a fixture of plains, prairies, deserts, and even mountain peaks. My visits to the eastern U.S. have been fruitful for the night shift of tree crickets, conehead katydids, and other “long-horned” grasshoppers.

To whet your appetite, I offer this teaser of links to past posts that referenced orthopterans as subjects:

• Summer ‘hoppers Part I
• Summer ‘hoppers Part II
• It’s Hopper Time!
• Tucson Grasshopper Story on TV
• Pygmy Mole Crickets

As always, I welcome suggestions for topics; and I will be searching for specific species of grasshoppers, crickets, and katydids this spring, summer, and fall. I have trips planned for Kansas/Missouri, plus Ohio, and various locations here in eastern Colorado if all the pieces fall into place.

Lastly, a big thank you to all of you who follow this blog. I hope to get the chance to meet all of you in person eventually. Keep up your own great work and let me know if I can help.