Crickets

The song, or chirping, produced by crickets is called stridulation. Only males make this sound. Most of them do so by lifting their upper wings at an angle of about 45° to their bodies and very quickly rubbing the inner edges of the wings against one another – like a bow rubbing against the edge of the other wing and making it vibrate. The two wings have special structures designed to create and amplify sounds. The space between the wings when they are lifted and the insect’s body also serves as a resonance chamber to amplify the stridulation.

Crickets can produce a wide variety of sounds, which they use to mark their territory, chase away other males, and attract and court females. Sometimes male crickets engage in singing competitions to assert their superiority. Crickets tend to stridulate mainly in the evening and at night. Both males and females hear the sounds by means of a tympanic membrane, like an eardrum, beneath the tibia of their front legs.

Crickets are considered champion jumpers. The strongly muscled femurs of their hind legs contain elastin, a substance that allows insects to leap great distances.