| Gryllus firmus | |
|---|---|
Scientific classification  | |
| Kingdom: | Animalia |
| Phylum: | Arthropoda |
| Class: | Insecta |
| Order: | Orthoptera |
| Suborder: | Ensifera |
| Family: | Gryllidae |
| Genus: | Gryllus |
| Species: | G. firmus |
| Binomial name | |
| Gryllus firmus | |
Gryllus firmus, commonly known as the sand field cricket, is a species of cricket in the subfamily Gryllinae. It is found in the southeastern United States.
Gryllus firmus is very similar in appearance to other crickets found in the southeastern United States, the southeastern field cricket (Gryllus rubens) and the Texas field cricket (Gryllus texensis). It has a black head and prothorax, and a brown abdomen. It can be distinguished from these two species by the coloration and venation of the forewing, but more particularly, by its call. Males of this species chirp while males of the other two species trill. [2]
Gryllus firmus occurs in the coastal plain of the southeastern United States. Its range extends from Connecticut and New Hampshire to Florida and Texas. The long winged morph is migratory. [3] It is replaced to the north and west of its range by the fall field cricket (Gryllus pennsylvanicus), and the two species hybridise to a limited extent where their ranges overlap. Its typical habitat is grassland, pasture, roadside verges and lawns on light, free-draining sandy soils. [2]
Gryllus firmus exhibits wing polymorphism; some individuals have fully functional, long hind wings and others have short wings and cannot fly. Females of the latter morph have smaller flight muscles, greater ovarian development and produce more eggs, so the polymorphism adapts the cricket for either dispersal or reproduction. In some long-winged individuals, the flight muscles deteriorate during adulthood and the insect's reproductive capabilities improve. [4]
G. firmus is unusual among field crickets in laying a mixture of two types of egg. [5] Some eggs develop immediately and take two to four weeks to hatch, while others have a diapause, with delayed hatching taking place after from five to twenty-eight weeks. Individual females lay both egg types, with the proportion of the quick-developing types varying from 50% to 95%. Researchers hypothesize that this reproductive strategy is particularly appropriate for G. firmus because of the variability in the temperature and the soil moisture content in the sandy, fast-drying soils in which it lives. Unpredictable droughts are less likely to cause population collapses when the risk is spread in this way. [5]
Lepidoptera is an order of insects that includes butterflies and moths. About 180,000 species of the Lepidoptera are described, in 126 families and 46 superfamilies, 10 percent of the total described species of living organisms. It is one of the most widespread and widely recognizable insect orders in the world. The Lepidoptera show many variations of the basic body structure that have evolved to gain advantages in lifestyle and distribution. Recent estimates suggest the order may have more species than earlier thought, and is among the four most speciose orders, along with the Hymenoptera, Diptera, and Coleoptera.
The viviparous lizard, or common lizard,, is a Eurasian lizard. It lives farther north than any other species of non-marine reptile, and most populations are viviparous, rather than laying eggs as most other lizards do. It is the only species in the monotypic genus Zootoca. Both "Zootoca" and "vivipara" mean "live birth," in Greek and Latin respectively. It was called Lacerta vivipara until the genus Lacerta was split into nine genera in 2007 by Arnold, Arribas & Carranza.
The Gerridae are a family of insects in the order Hemiptera, commonly known as water striders, water skeeters, water scooters, water bugs, pond skaters, water skippers, Jesus bugs, or water skimmers. Consistent with the classification of the Gerridae as true bugs, gerrids have mouthparts evolved for piercing and sucking, and distinguish themselves by having the unusual ability to walk on water, making them pleuston (surface-living) animals. They are anatomically built to transfer their weight to be able to run on top of the water's surface. As a result, one could likely find water striders present in any pond, river, or lake. Over 1,700 species of gerrids have been described, 10% of them being marine.
Gryllinae, or field crickets, are a subfamily of insects in the order Orthoptera and the family Gryllidae.
Polygonia c-album, the comma, is a food generalist (polyphagous) butterfly species belonging to the family Nymphalidae. The angular notches on the edges of the forewings are characteristic of the genus Polygonia, which is why species in the genus are commonly referred to as anglewing butterflies. Comma butterflies can be identified by their prominent orange and dark brown/black dorsal wings.
Ormia ochracea is a small yellow nocturnal fly in the family Tachinidae. It is notable for its parasitism of crickets and its exceptionally acute directional hearing. The female is attracted to the song of the male cricket and deposits larvae on or around him, as was discovered in 1975 by the zoologist William H. Cade.
Gryllus campestris, the European field cricket or simply the field cricket in the British Isles, is the type species of crickets in its genus and tribe Gryllini. These flightless dark colored insects are comparatively large; the males range from 19 to 23 mm and the females from 17 to 22 mm.
Gryllus bimaculatus is a species of cricket in the subfamily Gryllinae. Most commonly known as the two-spotted cricket, it has also been called the "African" or "Mediterranean field cricket", although its recorded distribution also includes much of Asia, including Korea, China and Indochina through to Borneo. It can be discriminated from other Gryllus species by the two dot-like marks on the base of its wings.
Gryllus pennsylvanicus is known as the fall field cricket. G. pennsylvanicus is common in southern Ontario, is widespread across much of North America and can be found even into parts of northern Mexico. It tends to be absent in most of the southwestern United States including southern California. Within its geographic range this field cricket will burrow into soil in fields and forest edges. Individuals inhabit grassy disturbed areas and are often found around areas of human habitation.
Gryllus veletis, commonly known as the spring field cricket, is abundant throughout eastern North America. G. veletis is a solitary, aggressive, omnivorous, burrow-inhabiting species of cricket. This species is commonly confused with Gryllus pennsylvanicus, as they inhabit the same geographical area. However, the two species are easily distinguished through examination of life history, ovipositor and behavioural differences. Predators of G. veletis, and most field crickets, include American toads, wild turkeys, red-tailed hawks, wolf spiders and red-backed salamanders.
Crickets are Orthopteran insects which are related to bush crickets, and, more distantly, to grasshoppers. In older literature, such as Imms, "crickets" were placed at the family level, but contemporary authorities including Otte now place them in the superfamily Grylloidea. The word has been used in combination to describe long-recognised unrelated taxa in the suborder Ensifera, such as king crickets and mole crickets.
The Senegalese grasshopper is a medium-sized grasshopper species found in the Sahel region of Africa, the Canary Islands, Cape Verde Islands, and West Asia. Although not called a locust in English, this species shows gregarious behaviour and some morphological change on crowding. In many parts of the Sahel, this species may cause greater year-on-year crop damage than better-known locusts, attacking crops such as the pearl millet.
The red-legged grasshopper is a species of grasshopper belonging to the genus Melanoplus. It is one of the most common grasshoppers found in Mexico, the United States, and Canada. This grasshopper is frequently used as a model organism in scientific studies, due to their abundance throughout North America and behavioral response to changes in climate.
Conocephalus fuscus, the long-winged conehead, is a member of the family Tettigoniidae, the bush-crickets and is distributed through much of Europe and temperate Asia. This bush-cricket is native to the British Isles where it may confused with the short-winged conehead. These two species are phenotypically similar; however, the distinguishing factor between the two is the fully developed set of wings the long-winged conehead possesses that allows for flight. In the short-winged coneheads the hind wings are shorter than the abdomen, causing the wings to be vestigial and the species is incapable of flight. For this reason it is hard to discriminate between the two species during the early stages of their life cycle before the wings have fully developed. The colouration of the conehead is typically a grass green with a distinctive brown stripe down its back, though there are some brown phenotypes.
Gryllus rubens, commonly known as the southeastern field cricket, is one of many cricket species known as a field cricket. It occurs throughout most of the Southeastern United States. Its northern range spans from southern Delaware to the extreme southeastern corner of Kansas, with a southern range stretching from Florida to eastern Texas.
Patanga succincta, the Bombay locust, is a species of locust found in India and southeast Asia. It is usually a solitary insect, and it is only in India that it has exhibited swarming behaviour. The last plague of this locust was in that country between 1901 and 1908 and there have not been any swarms since 1927. It is thought that the behaviour of the insects has altered because of changing practices in agricultural land use.
Gryllus assimilis, commonly known as the Jamaican field cricket and sometimes referred to as the silent cricket among other names, is one of many cricket species known as a field cricket. Its natural habitats are the West Indies and parts of the southern United States, Mexico, and South America, though as a result of widespread breeding programs to supply feeder insects to the pet industry since 2010, it has become available commercially throughout North America and Europe.
Macrotera portalis is a species of communal, ground nesting, partially bivoltine bees found in arid grasslands and desert regions of North America. An oligolectic bee, M. portalis gathers pollen only from plants in the genus Sphaeralcea and has patterns of seasonal emergence to survive the harsh conditions of the desert, with emergence delayed until monsoon rains arrive.
Allonemobius fasciatus, commonly known as the striped ground cricket, is an omnivorous species of cricket that belongs to the subfamily Nemobiinae. A. fasciatus is studied in depth in evolutionary biology because of the species ability to hybridize with another Allonemobius species, A. socius.
Reticulitermes tibialis, the arid-land subterranean termite, is a species of termite in the family Rhinotermitidae. It is found in the United States, mostly in the western half, occurring in deserts, prairies and other dry locations.