You may not have heard the name "Emma cricket," but perhaps you've kept one

People generally remember brutal things more vividly, like the start of the school term. Twenty-two years ago at this time, I was just a little kid who had started the first year of middle school. At the beginning of biology class in middle school, there was a lesson where students were asked to catch woodlice to do experiments. I obediently went to catch some, and besides woodlice, I also brought back quite a few other insects, among themTeleogryllus emmaTeleogryllus emma。

Teleogryllus emma. Image: Atsuo Fujimaru / Nature Prodution

Sharing a name with a demon

Teleogryllus emma is an insect in the genus Teleogryllus of the family Gryllidaeis widely distributed in our country, but there are not many species, and because their appearance is too similar, past literature often misidentified the species, causing confusion. For example, in North China, the most common species is Teleogryllus emma, and it is also the one kept and enjoyed in Beijing and Tianjin, but in the south there is a species called T. mitratus, whose northernmost distribution limit does not go beyond the Henan-Anhui area, yet its Chinese name is Beijing oil gourd cricket.

Beijing oil gourd cricket: "Clearly never been to Beijing, yet got a Beijing household registration." Image: Ma Chenghan

Teleogryllus emma has a body length of about 25mm, making it the largest among the various crickets distributed in Beijing. As the name suggests, the front of its face is yellow. In addition,above the compound eyes there are pale bands, like eyebrows, which isa hallmark of the genus Teleogryllus, so in some places it is also called the eyebrow cricket. The Japanese call Teleogryllus emmaEmma cricket, also because of the patterns on its face. The specific epithet emma is the romanization of the Japanese word "Enma" (that is, King Yama, the lord of hell).

I heard the devil looks like me? Image: saltatoria.info

Many species of crickets have underdeveloped hind wings, or they fall off after reaching adulthood, but Teleogryllus is different. Theirhind wings are very long, extending between the two cerci ⟧21⟧, at first glance it looks like the genitalia of a female, but actually you only need to glance at the forewings to identify the sex: males have very obvious complex patterns on their forewings, while females do not.At first glance, it looks like the female insect's reproductive organ, but in fact you only need to look at the forewings to identify the sex: the male has very obvious complex patterns on its forewings, while the female does not.

How can you tell if I'm male or female. Image: saltatoria.info

A melodious call

Like Tettigoniidae, Gryllidae alsoproduce sound by rubbing their forewings together. Teleogryllus emma'scalls also come in several types. When summoning a female, it first calls continuously from low to high, then adds a few scattered small chirps. Once it has attracted a female, the male's call becomes rapid and high-pitched; this is courtship. If what arrives is not a female but another male, then it switches to fighting mode. During a fight the calls are irregular, and after a winner is decided, the victor lets out a few long calls to announce victory.

The zigzag patterns on the male's forewings are the secret to its singing. Image: Amaru.me

Female Teleogryllus emma. Image: geocities.jp

Beijing and Tianjin both like to keep Teleogryllus emma, precisely to listen to their calls. The elegant katydid that appeared before, that is, the guoguo, is also a singing insect kept for its call, but it likes to sing in bright daylight, and its voice is crisp and powerful, while Teleogryllus emmalikes to call at night when it is cool, and its call is gentle and melodious, not noisy, and you fall asleep listening to it.

The melodious call of Teleogryllus emma. Source: ChannelPhi / YouTube

Of course, some people do not want them to call at night, so they put the insects in a warm place at night, forcibly making themadjust to jet lag. Teleogryllus emma generally mates and reproduces in September, laying eggs in the soil, which hatch in May of the following year. After the adult lays eggs, its lifespan is only one or two months, butwith proper artificial rearing, theycan live until the spring of the following year。

Eggs of Teleogryllus emma. Image: Moriue Nobuo / Nature Procdution

If there are calls, there must also be hearing, otherwise who are they calling for? Various crickets, including Teleogryllus emma, have no ears, butthree structures on their bodies can sense sound waves: one is the tympanal organ on the forelegs, one is the Johnston's organ at the base of the antennae, and the other is the two cerci. Among these,the main hearing organ is the tympanal organ. If the forelegs are removed, they are basically equivalent to being deaf: females will not respond to males' summons, and males will be indifferent to the provocations of rivals. When fighting crickets, if both forelegs of a cricket are broken, then it cannot fight.

Can hear, can fight

Speaking of cricket fighting, in the 1980s there was a puppet animation called "The Cricket," adapted from the "Cricket" section of "Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio." In the animation there is a plot point where a neighbor's child says the protagonist did not catch a cricket, but a Teleogryllus, and that it cannot fight. Actually this is wrong.Teleogryllus can also fight, but only with their own kind. They cannot fight with the cricket, that is, Velarifictorus micado, because the fundamental purpose of fighting is to compete for a mate. If the two insects are not even the same species, what is there to fight over?

The domineering Velarifictorus micado. Image: USGS Native Bee Inventory and Monitoring Laboratory

Teleogryllus emma can fight, but the scene of battle is different from that of Velarifictorus micado. Because their mouthparts are structured differently, Velarifictorus micado can charge directly and bite during a fight, while Teleogryllus emma cannot.It must tilt its head to bite from the side; it cannot open its mouth well head-on, so during fights the two insects often roll around all over the ground. Southern China provinces also have a tradition of fighting Teleogryllus, but what they mainly fight is the Beijing oil gourd cricket, which is not produced in Beijing. Their calls are not as pleasant as those of Teleogryllus emma, but they have a strong sense of territory, are naturally pugnacious, and like Velarifictorus micado, can face enemies head-on.

Traditional cricket-fighting implements. Image: Xue Li

Whether used for listening or for fighting, Teleogryllus must be artificially reared. Theyare raised in much the same way as other crickets: you have to put soil in a jar, tamp it firm, and then put the insects in to raise them. If in winter you want to carry Teleogryllus on your person to listen to their calls at any time, you also need to keep them in a special gourd, which besides keeping them warm also provides an acoustic effect, making the calls more pleasant.

Implements for listening to insect calls. Image: Desert Porcupine

Singing-insect culture became popular in the late Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China period. People called Velarifictorus micado the white insect and Teleogryllus emma the black insect. At first they only captured wild individuals, but later they began artificial breeding, and by nowvery refined breeding techniques have been developed, covering everything from environmental temperature and humidity to feed selection to disease prevention and control.

Some people say that Beijing and Tianjin people's love of keeping singing insects is a sign of losing ambition through frivolous pursuits, while others say this is traditional culture that should be promoted. I think thatkeeping pets is completely fine as long as it is legal and does not affect the ecology, and whether it is praised or criticized, there is no need to make a big deal of it. As for the singing insects themselves, just imagine: in the depths of winter, when heaven and earth are bleak, yet amid a forest of reinforced concrete you can hear bursts of insect song. Is this breath of life not a relief in a difficult life?

This article is the 257th article of the 4th year of Species Calendar, from Species Calendar author @Desert Porcupine.

Yesterday, Calendar Girl gave the first clue. Everyone's wild ideas and stories were great (but the real theme will not be revealed to you now!)

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Clue

Today's keyword

Castle 708

A megalithic fortress rises from the seaside, and what was moved there was not only lords, knights and villagers struggling to make a living. Barnacles came uninvited, settling on the stone walls that seawater could submerge. There is no unchanging national border: new cities are built, old cities decline; nor is there an eternally unchanging coastline: times change, seas turn into mulberry fields. But even if the sea forever recedes, on the stone walls of the abandoned castle there will still remain the traces of the barnacles' calcareous "castles."

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Shocking! [XX species] actually [some incredible characteristic]!

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Gryllidae Velarifictorus micado