What are the differences between the common cricket and the katydid?

Crickets and katydids are two insects we often see in daily life yet easily confuse. At first glance their bodies look similar, making it hard to tell them apart for a moment. Today let us tell you the differences between crickets and katydids!

We will look at the differences between crickets and katydids from the following aspects.

1. Biological taxonomy

Crickets belong to the class Insecta, order Orthoptera, superfamily Grylloidea.

Katydids are a general term for some large singing insects in the class Insecta, order Orthoptera, family Tettigoniidae.

2. Common folk names

In our daily life, crickets are also known as: cuzhi, ququ, night-singing insect, general insect, autumn insect, fighting rooster, cuzhi, quzhi, ground trumpet, kitchen chicken, Sun Wang, and tuzhe.

Katydids are also known as: oil gourd, biezong guoguo, katydid, youzi, katydid-er, earth dog, jiaoying, tuzha-zi, zaoma, guaizi, and so on.

3. Morphological features

The cricket has a round head, a broad thorax, and relatively large compound eyes, generally 1/4 to 1/2 of the head length; there are usually 3 ocelli, arranged in an inverted triangle or a line. The antennae are slender and longer than the body length. Most are small to medium in size, with a few large ones. Overall body length is greater than 3 mm; each leg has 3 tarsal segments, the front two legs are about the same, and the hind legs are well developed. The color is mainly yellowish brown or dark brown. The whole body has no scales. The mouthparts are chewing type. In some, the mandibles are well developed and stronger for biting and fighting, and in ancient times people kept crickets to fight for fun.

The katydid has a large head and a broad body, and the lower edge of the pronotum has a yellow border. There are 2 compound eyes and 3 ocelli. The common body color is bluish green, with a few brown. The female katydid is slightly larger than the male, at about 40 to 50 mm, while males range from 30 to 40 mm. Its antennae can be up to about 60 mm long, generally longer than the body length. The tarsal formula is 4-4-4, tarsal segments 1 to 3 have pads, the hind tibia has 6 apical spurs, 2 on the dorsal side and 4 on the ventral side, with the middle 2 being small. The hind femur is slightly longer than the tibia.

4. Growth and reproduction

Both crickets and katydids go through the process from egg to nymph to adult, belonging to incomplete metamorphosis.

Crickets generally lay eggs in the soil at the edges of field ridges and grass piles. The eggs need to overwinter. They are laid singly. Eggs are generally laid in October and hatch into nymphs from April to May of the following year. The nymph molts 6 times, each time 3 to 4 days, taking 20 to 25 days in total to emerge as an adult. Adult lifespan is 141 to 151 days.

Katydids also lay eggs in the soil to overwinter, laid scattered. They emerge in April of the next year. The egg stage lasts 244 to 669 days. The nymph molts 4 times in total, and about 7 to 13 days after adult emergence mating begins, lasting about 30 minutes. The female begins laying eggs 13 to 20 days after mating, and the egg-laying period is very long. It is mainly concentrated in August and basically ends in early October. The average number of eggs laid by a female is 300, and the lifespan of a katydid is about 80 to 90 days.

5. Feeding habits

Crickets are omnivorous animals, generally feeding on tender buds, tender leaves, and roots. They pose a relatively large threat to agriculture.

Katydids are also omnivorous animals, but mainly prey on other insects.

6. Common classifications

The common cricket species mainly include: Chinese cricket, large coffin-head cricket, oil gourd, and Chinese kitchen cricket.

Katydids are divided by ornamental body color into: emerald katydid, black iron katydid, mountain green katydid, grass white (rough white) katydid, heterochromatic katydid, red-brown katydid, golden yellow katydid, blue-green katydid, five-colored katydid, and white katydid; by geographical location they are divided into: northern katydid (Beijing katydid, Hebei katydid, Shanxi katydid, Shandong katydid) and southern katydid.

7. Degree of benefit or harm

Crickets are a major agricultural pest in our country and have always been one of the key targets for farmers to control during cultivation. During their growth they use the roots, stems, leaves, fruits, and seeds of crops as food, and the damage to seedlings is especially serious.

Katydids, on the other hand, are a beneficial insect, with carnivorous habits stronger than plant-eating habits. They often prey on pests and are helpers to humans. Nowadays a trend has arisen of keeping katydids as pets.

The differences between crickets and katydids have roughly been introduced here. Only by comparing them one by one did we find that there are actually so many differences between the two. Did you learn something?