Grasshoppers and crickets belong to a large and ancient order of Orthoptera, which numbers about 20 thousand species. Representatives of this order can be found on almost all continents, in different climatic zones of the globe, with the exception, perhaps, of the polar and high mountain regions. In Russia, there are about 750 species of orthoptera insects. One of the features of their jumping representatives is the ability to perceive and reproduce sounds.
In the grass Grasshopper sat…
The grasshopper is a predatory insect. During the day he hides in shelter, and at night he hunts. Prey stalking, sitting on the leaves of shrubs or on low-growing tree branches. It feeds on small insects. If insects are not enough, they can switch to a plant-based diet. He rarely jumps, more often crawls.
The body of a grasshopper is elongated, oblong, bright green or gray in color. The head and eyes are oval. The "muzzle" is elongated. The hind legs are long, of a jumping type. The elytra are tough; in species living in the grass, they are long and narrow. In forest grasshoppers, they are wider.
It is distinguished from other Orthoptera grasshoppers by its very long whiskers. Sometimes they exceed the length of the insect's body by 4 times. With the help of such mustache-antennas, the grasshopper catches any, even the smallest movement.
Another feature of the grasshopper is its powerful jaws. With the front limbs, he grabs and holds the prey, and then tears it apart and eats it. It can even bite through human skin.
A cricket sings behind the stove …
The cricket is another representative of the Orthoptera order. Two main types of field and brownie are widely known. The body length of the field cricket is up to 2.9 cm. The head is round, the elytra are short, glossy black with orange spots at the base. Lives in the soil, digs passages and burrows, or takes ready-made ones.
The cricket is very territorial. He jealously guards his possessions and has a very pugnacious character. Fights between males are not uncommon. Sometimes they end up with the death of a weaker enemy. In this case, the winner eats the loser, although in general the crickets prefer plant foods.
An interesting detail: the fighting cricket first of all tries to bite off the opponent's antenna. Scientists have noticed that a male who has lost his antennae becomes a kind of outcast.
The house cricket is one of the representatives of synanthropic insects, i.e. living together with people. The house cricket is brown or yellow with brown spots. There is a dark stripe on the head. Elytra are short, with orange spots at the base. In the summer, the cricket can be seen in the forest or in the meadow, and in the winter it moves into human homes.
Very thermophilic. A favorite habitat in village houses is a crack somewhere behind the stove. It can also live in the thermal insulation of heating systems in modern apartment buildings. During the day he hides, and at night he goes around the territory. Omnivorous. It feeds on crumbs from the table, various waste, destroys cockroach offspring.
According to scientists, crickets are very sensitive to temperature fluctuations and respond to them by changing the rhythm of their "songs". An interesting detail - the older the insect, the more melodic its trills.
The house cricket is a completely harmless insect. He is not a carrier of any diseases, and the only harm caused to people is his loud night concerts, to which not everyone is able to get used to.
