Black Field Cricket

When I was walking back from reading the electricity meter – which is in the south east of the property – I noticed lots of hopping insects.  I thought it was a bit early for grasshoppers, so I caught one and googled it.  It turns out is a Black Field Cricket (Teleogryllus commodus) and according to our local agriculture supplier “is of minor occurrence usually and not considered a regular pest in WA.”  It mainly eats decaying plant material and insect remains although they can be a pest of pastures, lawns and golf courses.  The males chirp repeatedly at dusk and the female lays about 2,000 eggs during her short life span of only a few months.  I will try and encourage the guinea fowl down to where they were, but Ginger chicken wasn’t interested in this one when I let it out of the jar.

Some interesting facts about Black Field Crickets:

– Antennae have over 30 segments.
– Sings or make clicking sounds and stops when approached.
– Lives in cracks in the soil and makes horizontal tunnels up to 15cm deep.
– Has wings but can’t fly.
– Has several moults before reaching it final size by the end of summer.
– Hatches from an egg in early to mid summer and the cold weather of winter kills them, so I am not sure what they are doing out at this time of year.