Cricket Experiment

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Cricket Experiment
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House Crickets Classification

• Kingdom Animalia
• Phylum Arthropoda
• Class Insecta
• Order Orthoptera
• Family Grillidae
• Genus Acheta
• Species domesticus

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Find out Cricket Information about Behavior

• Mating
• Eating
• Moving
• Fighting

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• Male - Note the absence of an ovipositor
• Noticeable hind wings

• Female - Find the ovipositor, which is visible as
  a needle-like tube extending from the posterior
  end of the body.

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Where do crickets live?

• Males chirp from hiding places, usually in
  buildings.
  
• This sound attracts females resulting in
  courtship and mating.

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Who Sings?

• Only male crickets stridulate or sing.

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Females
ovipositor
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Call frequency is a reliable indicator of male
size

• That means a female cricket can tell how big a
  male is just by listening to the pitch of the
  song.
  
• Cricket Songs

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Males

• The forewings of male crickets are shorter than
  those of females

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Scrapes on Wings
Cricket songs are produced with the forewings

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Harp

• By moving the scraper across the other wing's
  file, a vibration is set up which resonates on an
  area of the wing known as the harp.

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Mating Crickets

• Male crickets produce spermatophores to transfer
  sperm to the female.

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Chinese Cricket
pronunciation shyi shuai
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Protein Mating Snack

• Female crickets remove sperm and eat it after
  about three seconds following insertion.

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Cricket Male Spurs For Mating
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Experiment Tips

• During the lab you must avoid unnecessary sound
  and movement so as not to affect the behavior of
  the crickets.

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Experiment Tips

• As crickets are nocturnal, perhaps your
  experiment will be conducted in subdued light.

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Idea for a Variable

• Each male also defends his territory against the
  intrusion of other males.

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Laying Eggs

• When the female has mated she deposits her eggs
  in a damp place, preferably moist sand.

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Nymphs

• In about two weeks the eggs hatch into nymphs.
  (small and lack adult structures such as wings
  and genitalia)
  

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Cricket Mouths

• pairs of palps (touch and chemoreception) and the
  mandibles (jaws).

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• Antennae - sensory organs used for touch and
  chemoreception (taste and odors).

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• These are the cerci they serve as posterior
  feelers and help the cricket to avoid predators.
  Notice that these appendages are covered with
  long, slender hairs.

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• Deflection of these hairs by air movement causes
  stimulation of sensory nerves at the base of the
  hairs. Note also that the whole body is covered
  with short bristles these serve as sensory
  receptors of touch.

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• Crickets are extremely sensitive to substrate
  vibrations, and one of their responses to
  disturbance is to stop moving for periods from a
  few seconds up to a minute or so. Do not move
  quickly near the terrarium or "tower" over it, as
  they are also sensitive to changes in light
  intensity. They are likely to perform better if
  there are no lights nearby.

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