Information for Junior\ Secondary

Cricket

• Found throughout NZ and the world but only in warm countries
• They live in colonies
• They are noisy and make sound by rubbing their back legs
• Crickets are defenceless and hide mostly in the ground or in trees
• They come out when the sun sets i.e. nocturnal

Appearance

• Crickets are small insects with flattened bodies
• The head is like a sphere with long tender antennae (feelers)
• 2 large compound eyes
• On the forehead are 3 simple eyes
• The thorax or body is black and smooth
• Between the head and the abdomen are 6 legs, 3 on each side
• The female’s back legs are much larger that the male’s assisting it to jump further
• The hind legs of both male and female have spurs which make them look menacing
• The front legs can detect sounds!
• The wings lie flat on the body and are strong and provide protection
• There are bull crickets which live in the ground and free crickets

Life cycle

• Male crickets are most dominant, and the mating dance begins with flicking their antennae aggressively
• Males emit a call and sing loudly
• Females are attracted by the call
• The pair will touch antennae which leads to courtship
• The male fertilises the eggs

Feeding

• Crickets are omnivorous i.e. organic food like fruits, flowers, leaves, grasses, seedlings, shoos of young plants and sometime small aphids, insects, larvae etc.
• Crickets can bite and it can hurt

Singing

• Male crickets make a loud chirping sounds by scraping their body parts together
• Cricket songs repeat and are designed to attract females while scaring away other males
• The courting song is used when the female is nearby
• The mating encourages the female to lay eggs
• The warmer the night temperature the louder the noise

Enemies

• Predators and other threats include wasps, beetles, fungal parasites, birds and spiders.