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What you should know about feeder crickets 

Feeder crickets are black or brown insects measuring more than 13 mm long. Their head has long antennae, two compound eyes and mouthparts mill type. The thorax has two pairs of very veined wings.The forewings are rather tough. They protect the hind wings membranous, folded fan at rest. Three pairs of legs, the back is the more remarkable because it is specialized for jumping. His femur is particularly robust. The abdomen ends in two sensory filaments called tails.

The female differs from the male by the presence of the ovipositor, a long cylindrical body laying between the tails.

Life cycle

Adults mate after sex parade. The male then transmits a spermatophore, that is to say a white gelatinous envelope shaped drop that contains the sperm. He deposits in the genital opening of the female. It rips the sperm to release migrating to her reproductive organs.

A few days later, the female lays in the ground by pushing her ovipositor it. Spawning a hundred eggs over several days. After incubation of eggs, which vary in length depending on the species and environmental conditions, are born tiny crickets similar to adults, but wingless. During their growth, youth undergo several molts that allow them to grow and reach the adult stage, complete with wings and functional reproductive organs.

Habitat

 Habitat varies according to species. Several live the fields, roadsides, and land adjacent to houses and homes.

What you should know

Most of the feeder crickets raise their wings above an angle of approximately 45 degrees relative to their body. They then quickly rub the inner edges of the wings against one another, in the manner of a bow which would vibrate a part of the other wing. Both wings have special structures to create and amplify sounds. The space created between the raised wings and body of the insect is also a sounding board for the chirp.

Crickets have a goal varied melodic repertoire that has to define the territory away other males, to attract females and to encourage them to mate. The song can also be used to establish the superiority of a male cricket to another during a sound competition. The chirps are emitted especially in the evening and night. Males and females perceive sounds with a tympanum placed on the tibia of the forelegs.

The crickets are considered specialists jump. Heavily muscled thigh bones of their hind legs contain elastin, a substance that allows insects to leap great distances.

 Ecological roles

Crickets are eaten by many animals, including birds and frogs.