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Publication #EENY070

 

Southern Wood Cricket, Gryllus fultoni (Alexander) (Insecta: Orthoptera: Gryllidae)1

T. J. Walker2

Introduction

The southern wood cricket, Gryllus fultoni (Alexander), actually lives in the woods, but "southern woodland field cricket" would be too long and self-contradictory for a useful common name.

For information on other Florida field and house crickets see: http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures.

Distribution

This species occurs throughout southeastern US except in south peninsular Florida.

Figure 1. 

Distribution of the Southern wood cricket throughout the United States.


[Click thumbnail to enlarge.]

Identification

In the southern wood cricket, the color pattern of the forewings lacks the well defined longitudinal stripe of the southeastern field cricket and the well-defined light veins and crossveins of the sand field cricket. The forewings are not as short and usually not as dark as in the taciturn wood cricket. The stridulatory file has more widely spaced teeth than in the sand field cricket and the taciturn wood cricket. The ovipositor is less than 1.2 times the length of the hind femur. Long-winged individuals are not known from the field, but they occur occasionally in laboratory cultures.

Figure 2. 

Male southern wood cricket, Gryllus fultoni (Alexander).


Credit: Paul M. Choate, University of Florida
[Click thumbnail to enlarge.]

Figure 3. 

Female southern wood cricket, Gryllus fultoni (Alexander).


Credit: Paul M. Choate, University of Florida
[Click thumbnail to enlarge.]

Life Cycle

The southern wood cricket overwinters as a mid-sized juvenile and matures in spring. In Florida, some of the progeny of spring adults overwinter as juveniles and others mature in late summer and may produce additional overwintering juveniles. Farther north, this partial second generation is lacking.

Habitat

Found in upland pine, turkey oak, moist to dry broadleaf forest.

Song

The calling song (672Kb wav file) is a series of fast-pulsed chirps, with a chirp rate of about two per second. Most chirps have three pulses, with the initial one being somewhat weaker than the rest (graphs) [February 2012].

Selected References

Doherty, J. A., and J. D. Callos. 1991. Acoustic communication in the trilling field cricket, Gryllus rubens (Orthoptera: Gryllidae). Journal of Insect Behavior 4: 67-82.

Walker T. J. (2011). Tropical house cricket, Gryllodes fultoni (Alexander 1957) Singing Insects of North America. http://entnemdept.ifas.ufl.edu/walker/Buzz/501a.htm (23 September 2011).

Footnotes

1.

This document is EENY-070, one of a series of Featured Creatures from the Entomology and Nematology Department, Florida Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida. Published: January 1999. Reviewed: September 2011. This document is also available on Featured Creatures website at http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures. Please visit the EDIS website at http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu.

2.

T. J. Walker, professor, Entomology and Nematology Department, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, 32611.

The Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) is an Equal Opportunity Institution authorized to provide research, educational information and other services only to individuals and institutions that function with non-discrimination with respect to race, creed, color, religion, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, political opinions or affiliations. For more information on obtaining other extension publications, contact your county Cooperative Extension service.

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Cooperative Extension Service, University of Florida, IFAS, Florida A. & M. University Cooperative Extension Program, and Boards of County Commissioners Cooperating. Nick T. Place, Dean.