A science explainer on how crickets make sound and when and how they chirp

Crickets, which farmers often call guoguo or ququ. They are invertebrate animals of the family Gryllidae in the order Orthoptera of the class Insecta. They are destroyers of crops and pests in the eyes of farmers. So what do crickets use to make their chirping sound? How do they chirp?

Crickets are invertebrates, in the class Insecta, order Orthoptera, superfamily Grylloidea. Also called cuzhi, with common names ququ, night-singing insect (because it chirps at night), general insect, autumn insect, fighting cock, cuzhi, quzhi, ground trumpet, stove chick, Sun Wang, and tuzhe, while “monk” is the name for a cricket before it grows its two wings. According to research, the cricket is an ancient insect, with a history of at least 140 million years, and has been an object of fighting games in both ancient and modern times.

What do crickets use to make their chirping sound?

Crickets use their wings to make sound. On the right wing of a cricket there is a short file-like spine, and on the left wing there is a hard ridge shaped like a blade. The left and right wings open and close, rubbing against each other. Vibrating the wings produces a pleasant sound.

In addition, different tones and frequencies in a cricket's song can express different meanings. At night, the loud, long-rhythmed song of a cricket is both a warning to other males to keep out and a courtship call. When another male enters its territory, it chirps solemnly and rapidly as a stern warning. In addition, only male crickets chirp; female crickets do not chirp.

When do crickets chirp? How do they chirp?

They generally begin chirping in August in summer, and in the wild they chirp most vigorously at 20 degrees; when the weather turns cold in late October, they stop chirping. When a male meets a female, its song can change to: “jiji zhi, jiji zhi”, and during mating it makes a trembling “zhi……” sound. When two males meet, they first raise their wings and chirp for a while to boost their prestige, then, head to head, each opens its pincer-like large mouth and bites at the other, also kicking with their legs, and can often roll back and forth grappling for 3~5 rounds.

During each breeding season, male crickets vibrate their wings even harder, producing a pleasant sound to attract the opposite sex.

Cricket living habits

Crickets live in burrows, often dwelling on the ground surface, under bricks and stones, in earthen holes, and among grass. They are active at night. They are omnivorous, eating various crops, saplings, vegetables and fruits, and so on. Certain behaviors of crickets can be triggered by specific external stimuli.

Crickets are solitary by nature and generally live independently, never allowing other crickets to live with them (during the mating period a male may also live together with a female). Therefore they cannot tolerate one another, and once they meet they will bite and fight. One male cricket can live together with multiple female crickets.

Common varieties

Chinese cricket (Velarifictorus micado)

Body length about 2 cm, body dark brown. One generation per year, overwintering as eggs in the soil. The male's sound-producing organ is near the base of the forewings, and it produces sound by rubbing its wings. The auditory organ is located on the tibia of the foreleg. It is burrowing, often active underground, on the ground surface, or in cracks between bricks and stones, and damages plant roots, stems, leaves, seeds and fruits, mostly feeding at night and biting the tender parts of plants near the ground, causing gaps in the seedlings; it is an agricultural pest.

Big coffin-head cricket (Loxoblemmus doenitzi)

The big coffin-head cricket has a flat head with a level front end, slanting forward; the male's head protrudes noticeably on both sides, and males will also fight each other, but their fighting spirit is not as strong as that of the fighting cricket.

There is a folk saying that when you catch many ququ, if there is a big coffin-head ququ among them, then all the ququ will not fight. (Rumor)

Youtiaolu (Teleogryllus mitratus)

The youtiaolu has a dark black body with a glossy sheen, and on the inner upper side of its two compound eyes

there are yellow stripes extending to the back of the head. The forewings are light brown, also glossy, and the hindwings are relatively well developed, giving it a brief flight capability. The female's ovipositor reaches 2 cm in length. It forages at night, and both adults and nymphs damage crops such as soybeans, sorghum, peanuts, melons and vegetables. It is distributed in most provinces across the country.

Chinese stove cricket (Gryllodes sigillatus)

Also called “white cricket”, it gets the name stove cricket because it is commonly found in rural stoves. The white cricket is a subspecies in the order Orthoptera, different from field crickets; its body is relatively small and its temperament mild, and its whole body is milky white. The larger ones are the size of a peanut kernel, and the smaller ones the size of a wheat grain. On the two sides of its flat head grow a pair of antennae and a pair of compound eyes, and on its cylindrical abdominal cavity there are brownish-red ring-shaped patterns. At the end of the abdomen there is a small figure-eight-shaped tail, and on its back are four degenerated small wings. Its two arched large legs are its main jumping organs. This little creature can crawl and jump well, and is clever and docile. If you occasionally catch one and put it in your palm, it will wave its antennae, look at you face to face, and make a chirping sound, then quickly jump out of your palm and escape. Old farmers often keep them in small gourds, and in the severe winter when snow falls thickly and dripping water freezes into ice, you can still hear its call.