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Today on Animal Fact Files we’re discussing crickets. To be more specific, we're discussing the family of crickets known as true crickets; some animals with the name cricket, such as dune crickets (family: Schizodactylidae), aren't classified in the true cricket family. True crickets have long antennae that are just as long or longer than their body; this helps separate them from grasshoppers. They also have three segmented feet, which is one fewer segment than your average katydid. Katydids are also known as bush crickets, but they're not technically true crickets either! True crickets are often flat-bodied, brown to black in color, and have wings that may or may not be used for flight. Females also have a round ovipositor, which is how they lay their eggs. In katydids, who are often green and leaf-shaped, the ovipositor is flat. 

The name "cricket" comes from the sound they make, it's onomatopoeic in origin. Crickets are well known for their melodic tune. It's a common misconception that these insects produce sounds by rubbing their legs together, but this is actually done through the rubbing of their wings! Ridges present on their wings make a chirping sound when they come in contact with each other. Only males produce sound, and this is used both to attract a mate and to warn other crickets of danger. There are, however, some cricket species in which the male does not sing to his lovers, so this isn't a universal trait. In fact, female crickets don't produce sounds at all! These insects hear each other through eardrums located on their legs! In many cases, the females are slightly larger than the males. Crickets may be less than an inch long to nearly two inches (2-5 cm) in length! 

True crickets are cosmopolitan, meaning they live all through most of the world; they're only absent from places where there isn't plant material to support their survival. They're most often nocturnal and go unnoticed during the day. At this time they hide under leaf litter and forest debris as well as in cracks and crevices of rocks and human-made structures. At night, they come out to forage. These are omnivorous animals eating decaying plants, animals, and fungi, fruit, nectar, and seeds, as well as other insects and leaves. Although they can be somewhat intimidating to see, crickets are almost entirely harmless to humans. Their bite is not typically strong enough to break human skin! While they do infrequently eat crop seeds, crickets also help reduce pest insect populations by eating their eggs, so they can be beneficial to have around!

Predators to crickets include insect-eating birds, rodents such as shrews, bats, frogs, snakes, spiders, and plenty more. On average these invertebrates live about a year. They start life as eggs. Males attract females with their call. In the species where males don't call to attract a mate, the adults usually all reach reproductive maturity around the same time so they have huge adult populations at that specific time which makes finding a mate easier. After finding a mate, the male produces a spermatophore, which is a small package of his reproductive material. The female takes this and deposits her eggs somewhere safe where they can overwinter. Many cricket species survive the winter as eggs and hatch in spring although some nymphs live through winter, especially in warmer areas. Cricket babies look like smaller versions of the adults just without wings. They shed their outer layer as they grow and develop these wings over time.

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