Ant-loving cricket A small, yellow, wingless cricket that lives in ant nests, feeding on an oily substance given off by ants. Up to 50 ant-loving crickets may be found in one ant nest at a time. In the dark of the nest, they use tactile mimicry to fool the ants, caressing them as another ant would do with its antennae.

Bush cricket A large, flightless cricket with long antennae. Bush crickets are also known as long-horned grasshoppers or katydids. Some bush crickets are predatory, feeding on other insects or even small lizards.

Cave cricket A flightless cricket with a humped back, long legs and long antennae. Cave crickets, also known as camel crickets, live in dark places such as caves. They are usually brown in colour and they do not chirp.

Cricket An insect with long legs for jumping and long, thin antennae, used to find its way in the dark. Many crickets are nocturnal. They feed on both leaves and other insects. Most crickets are non-fliers. Male crickets make chirping calls by rubbing their wings together. Females hear the calls through their ears—actually slits in their front legs.

Elegant grasshopper A brightly coloured grasshopper from South Africa. When threatened, it secretes a foul-smelling fluid from between its joints. This green frothing substance deters predators from attacking the grasshopper.

Field cricket A common, black cricket that lives in grassy areas and may also burrow into loose soil. Field crickets feed on seeds, plants and other insects.

Grasshopper A herbivorous insect with large powerful legs. Most grasshoppers have wings although some are flightless. Males make chirping calls by rubbing a leg and a wing together. Females hear the calls through hearing organs on their abdomens. Most species are camouflaged, but some are brightly coloured to show that they are poisonous.

Ground cricket A flat-bodied cricket that lives in fields or woodlands and has a soft call. The striped ground cricket has dark markings on its back.

Groundhopper A small insect, related to grasshoppers and crickets. Groundhoppers have tiny, scale-like front wings but can fly well using their strong hind wings. Groundhoppers often live near streams or rivers and some species can even swim. Groundhoppers include the pygmy grasshoppers and pygmy locusts.

Jerusalem cricket A large, North American insect, also known as the potato bug. It has a translucent brown body and no wings. It may have dark stripes on its abdomen. Jerusalem crickets burrow underground to feed on roots and tubers.

Locust A large grasshopper. Locusts are usually solitary, but if wet weather causes plant growth, their population may increase massively. Crowded together, their legs rub against each other, triggering the behaviour that makes them swarm. Solitary locusts are camouflaged, but swarming locusts, protected by their vast numbers, moult to reveal bright colours. When swarms descend on an area of vegetation, they strip it bare in minutes.

Mole cricket A cricket that digs tunnels underground. It feeds on plant roots or insect larvae. It can shape its tunnels in such a way that its calls to other crickets are amplified. Mole crickets have wings and may leave their burrows to fly above ground at night.

Orthoptera An order of insects to which grasshoppers and crickets belong. Their name means “straight-winged”. All insects in this family have two pairs of wings. The transparent rear wings fold up behind the hardened, leathery front wings. Most orthopterans can produce loud chirping sounds to communicate with one another.

Stridulation The act of making noises by rubbing together body parts. Male grasshoppers and crickets both stridulate by rubbing together their legs or wings. Stridulation is used to attract a mate, impress her or to ward off rival males. Other insects, such as weevils and scarab beetles, also stridulate.

Tree cricket A white or green cricket that lives in trees or shrubs. It has one of the longest and loudest calls of all crickets. There are about 80 species of tree cricket across the world.

Weta A cricket with long, spiny back legs, which it waves at enemies to warn them off. Some species will also bite attackers. Weta are nocturnal, coming out at night to feed on plants and fungi. There are about 100 species of weta, all of which are native to New Zealand.

Consultant: Chris Jarvis