Nowadays, it is almost impossible to see crickets in modern homes. But in the peasant huts of the 18th-19th centuries, these insects were permanent "tenants", quietly creaking behind the stove and thus giving comfort to the house.
Cricket - "baked nightingale"
This is what house crickets used to be called. Biologically, these "singers" belong to the orthoptera of the cricket family. Their homeland is the Far East and North Africa. Since crickets are thermophilic creatures, their favorite habitats with the onset of cold weather are houses heated by stoves, as well as heated industrial buildings and heating plants. In the warm season, these insects live in open spaces.
It is curious that the love of warmth, as well as the same culinary preferences, make house crickets similar to red house cockroaches. If you do not look closely at these insects, they even look similar! However, cockroaches cannot sing and do not utter any sounds heard by humans at all. Cricket, in principle, also cannot be called a "singer", he is a violinist. The crickets play their "violin" by rubbing the sharp side of one prewing against the surface of the other.
Cricket appearance
Crickets are extremely cunning and agile creatures. It is very difficult to see them, since they move very quickly along the walls, and even more so to catch them. However, if you very quietly approach the place from where the "trills" of the cricket are heard, in principle, it can be considered. If you're lucky. The average body length of an adult cricket is 2 cm, but individuals up to 2.5 cm long are also found. The color of the body of these insects can be different: from straw-yellow color with brown stripes to yellowish with variegated or dull brown spots (or specks).
Since crickets are orthoptera insects, their elytra in a calm state have a flat, elongated shape and lie on the back. It is curious that the left one is always covered by the right one. The cricket's head is painted with three dark stripes. The wings of crickets are well developed and are used for constant flights from one place to another. Antennae (cerci) are present in both the female and the male. Crickets lay eggs, so the females have a long ovipositor, the length of which varies from 10 to 15 mm. The eggs are 2.5 mm long. In their shape, they resemble a yellow-white banana.
How crickets breed
Males with their "serenades" attract the attention of females. When a pair is formed, fertilization takes place. The female lays up to 30 eggs at a time in the crevices of the soil. It is curious that crickets, after finishing their reproduction, die. After two weeks, larvae emerge from the eggs, which will have to winter on their own. Growing up, they dig passages. In the spring, the larvae turn into an imago - a full-fledged insect.
