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Family GRYLLACRIDIDAE - Wood Crickets
and Leaf-rolling Crickets
- This page contains pictures and information about Wood Crickets and
Leaf-rolling Crickets that we
found in the Brisbane area, Queensland, Australia.
-
 - Winged male
-
- The members in this family, including late instars, males and females, will produce a
raspy sound when disturbed. They are active at night. They usually spend the
daytime in burrows or in leaves shelters.
-
- Most of them are fully winged although some are wingless. They are robust
generally with soft body. Their legs usually not long, but strong and spiny.
As other crickets, they have very long antenna. For those species that fully
winged, their front pair of wings, or tegmina, are very soft. This character
distinguishes this family from the other cricket families.
-
- Most species in this family
Gryllacrididae are considered omnivorous (eat everything) although some
are considered carnivorous. Their mandibles are sharp and
elongated.
-
- When disturbed, the cricket inflates their abdomen and raise themselves with
some of the legs up right. It then repeatingly move the abdomen against the stationary
legs creating a low, raspy sound. At the same time it makes noise with the mandibles
and wings. If this cannot drive away the dangers, the activity becomes more vigorous. The
raspy sound seems to serve a defensive purpose only, as the cricket, both male
and female, seems do not have any hearing organ.
-
- As other crickets, females in this family have long sword-like ovipositor.
-
-
- Striped Raspy Cricket, Tree Cricket
 - Paragryllacris combusta, nymph, adult body length 50mm
- The 2nd photo shows the cricket feeding on nectar from the flowers of the Large
Bird-of-Paradise tree in our front yard. We took the pictures at night on OCT 2000. We noticed
that the cricket climbed up the same tree at the same time every night. It
did the same routine the following days, even we captured it once in a glass
jar, watched it for a few hours then let it go. More information and pictures
please click on here.
-
-
- Spider Face Leaf Rolling Cricket
 - Nunkeria sp., nymph, body length
30mm
adult body length 50mm
- Spider Face Leaf-rolling Cricket is
reddish brown to orange pale brown in colour with fully developed wings. It
has
very long antenna, all legs are spiny. The median ocellus of the
cricket is very large. The cricket hide in nest on tree
during the day. Their nest is usually two board leaves hold together by
silky material. The Cricket has a dark face pattern resemble the spider's
face, i.e., a pair of large fangs, group of compound eyes. It mimics spider
behaviour as well. Details please check this page.
-
-
- Reference:
- 1. Insects
of Australia, CSIRO, Division of Entomology, Melbourne University
Press, 2nd Edition 1991, p380.
- 2. Grasshopper Country - the Abundant Orthopteroid Insects of Australia, D Rentz, UNSW Press, 1996,
p59.
- 3. Studies in Australian
Gryllacrididae: Taxonomy, Biology, Ecology and Cytology - Rentz DCF, John B. 1990. Invertebrate Taxonomy 3: 1053-1210.
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