Are crickets and grasshoppers the same insect?

Crickets and grasshoppers (grubs) are actually the same kind of insects. The former is a common name and the latter is a scientific name. However, in the spoken sense, cricket refers only to fighting crickets, which is an individual species of cricket. Because crickets are usually associated with “fighting”, but not all crickets are suitable for fighting. Let us learn about crickets and real crickets.

cricket

Crickets are a common type of insect, especially in the summer nights. Crickets are a large family, a general term for all insects in the family Gryllidae, suborder Xiphiura, order Orthoptera. There are more than 900 different species worldwide, and they first appeared on Earth in the dinosaur era 140 million years ago.

Crickets are a type of herbivorous insects. They are usually nocturnal. During the day, they hide in underground caves and come out at night to forage for food and find mates. The chirping of crickets is actually the sound produced by the friction of their wings. They do not have a vocal organ in their body, and only males can make sounds. This is their only way to attract the opposite sex.

However, although the chirping of crickets is for courtship, in the human world, it can not only be used to listen to the chirping sound, but also to measure temperature. As early as 1890, American physicist Emile Dobell found the relationship between chirping sound and temperature by counting the frequency of chirping sounds made by crickets at night.

Through his statistics and calculations, he came up with a formula TC=10+(N-40)/7, where TC is the outside temperature and N is the number of times the cricket chirps per minute. However, there is a prerequisite for this formula to be valid, that is, the outside temperature range must be between 7℃-32℃, because when the temperature is below 7℃, the cricket will almost not chirp, and when the temperature is above 32℃, the cricket will greatly reduce the rhythm of chirping in order to reduce energy consumption.

Crickets season

Of course, the season for crickets to chirp is usually around the beginning of autumn. The night temperature at this time is usually in this range, so those who are interest, can mark it and wait until after the beginning of autumn to test it.

Because crickets live in the ground and their main food is the roots, stems, leaves and seeds of plants. Crickets are consider agricultural pests. They are relatively solitary and usually act alone. They have a strong sense of territory. During the non-breeding season, both males and females will not allow other of the same kind to get close to them, especially males. Once they meet, a big fight usually breaks out.

However, the chirping of crickets to a certain extent reflects the strength of the cricket’s body. The stronger the cricket, the louder and crisper its chirping. Therefore, their chirping is actually a good way to avoid fighting. It is precisely because of the characteristic that male crickets like to fight that people began to catch crickets for fun as early as the Southern Song Dynasty. In the Tang Dynasty, everyone from the royal family to the common people raised crickets, and these crickets used for duels were crickets.

Real cricket

All crickets are very aggressive, but the real crickets are those that start pinching each other as soon as they meet. They can be call “fighting crickets” among crickets. These crickets are often in the genus Gryllidae.

Both types of fighting crickets are not big in size, with an average body length of only about 1.5 cm, but they are ferocious and aggressive. Once they see their own kind, they will rub their wings together quickly to warn the other party. Once the other party responds in the same way, they will engage in a head-on battle.

Of the two species of fighting crickets, the Chinese fighting cricket is the most common. They usually live in piles of earth, weeds, stones and various crevices on the edges of fields, roadsides and lawns. The burrows built by fighting crickets often have a canopy-like protrusion, forming an angle of about 45° with the ground.

From the appearance, the Chinese fighting cricket is mainly dark brown, with a large and round head and 6 short yellow vertical stripes on the back. According to the descriptions of ancient fighting crickets, the Chinese fighting cricket has the highest appearance rate, partly because they are easier to obtain and partly because their males are extremely aggressive. Therefore, in ancient times.

The long-jawed fighting cricket is smaller than the Chinese fighting cricket, with an average body length of about 1.1 cm. The head is obviously wider than the bear’s back, relatively round but slightly flat at the front end. There is a yellow-white horizontal stripe between the two compound eyes, and the back and wings are black.

Distribution

From the distribution point of view, the long-jawed fighting cricket is mainly distribute in the southern provinces of china. As the name suggests, the long-jawed fighting cricket has a well-developed upper jaw, which is not only a tool for eating, but also a weapon for fighting. Compare with the fighting cricket, the duel of the long-jawed fighting cricket usually ends with the death of one party, and as long as the other party is bitten, it is basically declared dead.

Summarize

In a broad sense, crickets are the same as crickets. However, since crickets were usually used for fighting in ancient my country, and suitable or outstanding fighting crickets all belong to the genus Fighting Cricket, in a narrow sense, crickets refer to all species that are suitable for fighting crickets. Moreover, the calls of fighting crickets are often clearer and louder than those of other crickets. Therefore, even if you raise crickets for the sound, they usually refer to fighting crickets.

To sum up, strictly speaking, crickets are a general term for multiple species under the genus Gryllus, and crickets are a general term for more than 900 species of insects under the family Gryllidae.