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Publication #EENY-064

Tropical House Cricket,Gryllodes sigillatus(F. Walker)1

T. J. Walker2

Introduction

Tropical house crickets (also known as "decorated crickets"), are common in urban areas and sometimes occur indoors. They are easily reared but, unlike their temperate counterparts (house crickets), are seldom exploited for pet food or fish bait.

Distribution

The tropical house cricket is probably native to southwestern Asia but has been spread by commerce to tropical regions throughout the world.

Figure 1. 

Distribution of the tropical house cricket in the United States.

Life Cycle

Like house crickets, there is no special overwintering stage and generations are continuous. Depending on the temperature, development from egg to adult takes two to three months.

Identification

The tropical house cricket is a 13 to 18 mm long, light yellowish-brown, somewhat flattened cricket. Males have wings that only half cover the abdomen and females are practically wingless. Very rarely, a male or female has long wings that make them look like house crickets. However, in the tropical house cricket the space between the antennae is narrow (about the width of the basal segment of either antenna), and there is a single dark transverse band between the eyes.

Figure 2. 

Tropical house cricket, Gryllodes sigillatus (F. Walker), male (left) and female (right).


Credits: Paul M. Choate, University of Florida

Habitat

In Florida, tropical house crickets are most frequently found outdoors in or near paved areas. At night they issue from hiding places, such as crevices between pavement blocks, to forage (like roaches) and sing (like crickets). When they move into buildings, as they occasionally do, their songs reveal their presence.

Song and Mating

The calling song (690Kb wav file) consists of a sequence of brief chirps, each with three principal pulses. Within a chirp, each pulse represents a closure of the wings while a scraper on one wing engages a toothed file on the other. The pulses of a chirp grow successively longer as 1/2, 3/4 and the entire file is used (graphs). Only males call. When a female is attracted to the song, courtship ensues, and the male attaches a bag of sperm (spermatophore) to the female. The male surrounds the spermatophore with a proteinaceous mass on which the female feeds while the sperm pass into her internal sperm receptacle. The bigger the mass, the longer the sperm may have to enter, because the female usually eats all or part of the covering prior to removing the spermatophore proper.

Management

Generally tropical house crickets do no harm. Should they cause problems by their presence or calling in a structure, they can be eliminated by setting out baits sold for cockroach or earwig control.

Selected References

Ghouri, A.S.K., and J. E. McFarlane. 1958. Occurrence of a macropterous form of Gryllodes sigillatus (Walker) (Orthoptera: Gryllidae) in laboratory culture. Can. J. Zool. 36: 837-838. Pl. I.

Rauf, A., and S. A. Aziz. 1983. Sound production in Gryllodes sigillatus. J. Entomol. Res. 6: 48-50.

Sakaluk, S. K. 1984. Male crickets (Gryllodes supplicans) feed females to ensure complete sperm transfer. Science 223: 609-610.

Sakaluk, S. K. 1987. Reproductive behaviour of the decorated cricket, Gryllodes supplicans (Orthoptera: Gryllidae): calling schedules, spatial distribution, and mating. Behaviour 100: 202-225.

Will, M. W., and S. K. Sakaluk. 1994. Courtship feeding in decorated crickets: Is the spermatophylax a sham? Anim. Behav. 48: 1309-1315.

Footnotes

1.

This document is EENY-064, one of a series of Featured Creatures from the Entomology and Nematology Department, Cooperative Extension Service, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida. Published: January 1999. Reviewed: March 2011. This document is also available on Featured Creatures website at http://entomology.ifas.ufl.edu/creatures. Please visit the EDIS website at http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu.

2.

T. J. Walker, professor, Entomology and Nematology Department, Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, University of Florida, Gainesville, 32611.

The Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) is an Equal Opportunity Institution authorized to provide research, educational information and other services only to individuals and institutions that function with non-discrimination with respect to race, creed, color, religion, age, disability, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, national origin, political opinions or affiliations. For more information on obtaining other extension publications, contact your county Cooperative Extension service.

U.S. Department of Agriculture, Cooperative Extension Service, University of Florida, IFAS, Florida A. & M. University Cooperative Extension Program, and Boards of County Commissioners Cooperating. Millie Ferrer-Chancy, Interim Dean.