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Cricket (family Gryllidae)

InsectInvertebrateSinger

Field cricket (Gryllus campestris), a glossy black insect with long antennae.

Field cricket (Gryllus campestris).

Image: Holger Krisp, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Overview

Crickets (family Gryllidae) are familiar jumping insects best known for the cheerful chirping songs the males make on warm evenings. Typically brown or black, with a somewhat flattened body, long antennae, powerful hind legs for jumping, and (in females) a long needle-like egg-laying tube, crickets are relatives of grasshoppers and katydids. The field cricket (Gryllus campestris), shown here, is a classic example.

Unlike cicadas, crickets sing by rubbing their wings together rather than buzzing, and they have long been woven into human culture as symbols of luck, home, and the sounds of summer and autumn nights.

Note: “cricket” covers many species; details here use the field cricket as a reference. Treat general statements as approximate and verify against authoritative sources.

Habitat & Range

Crickets are found almost worldwide in grasslands, fields, woodlands, gardens, and around buildings, with different species in habitats from meadows to caves to forest floors. Many live in or on the ground, sheltering in burrows, under stones, or in vegetation and leaf litter, and some readily come indoors in cooler weather.

Diet

Most crickets are omnivores, eating a mix of plant material — leaves, seeds, and fruit — along with fungi, decaying matter, and small invertebrates or insect eggs. This flexible diet helps them thrive in many habitats and makes them easy to rear, which is one reason crickets are widely farmed as food for pets and, increasingly, for people.

Behavior

The male cricket's song is made by “stridulation” — rubbing a scraper on one wing against a file-like ridge on the other, producing the familiar chirp. Different species have distinct songs, and males use them to attract females and warn off rivals; remarkably, the chirp rate of some crickets rises with temperature, so their song can roughly indicate how warm it is. Crickets are mostly active at dusk and night, use their strong hind legs to leap from danger, and many males defend a burrow or small territory.

Human Interaction & Conservation

Crickets are an important food source for many animals — birds, reptiles, amphibians, and small mammals — and a key part of many food webs. People keep them as “singing” pets in some cultures (notably parts of East Asia), rear them in huge numbers as feeder insects, and increasingly farm them as a sustainable protein for human food. They are harmless to people. Consult authoritative sources for species-specific details.

More photos of the cricket

A field cricket on the ground, showing its powerful hind legs.

Field cricket (Gryllus campestris).

Image: Holger Krisp, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.

Frequently Asked Questions — Cricket

How do crickets make their chirping sound?
Male crickets sing by stridulation — rubbing a hard scraper on one forewing across a file-like ridge on the other, like running a fingernail along a comb. This produces the familiar chirp. Different species have distinctive songs, used mainly to attract females and ward off rival males.
Can you tell the temperature from a cricket's chirp?
Roughly, yes, for some species. Because crickets are cold-blooded, the rate of their chirping tends to increase as it gets warmer. There are even rule-of-thumb formulas (such as counting chirps over a set time) that estimate the air temperature from a snowy tree cricket's song — a fun reflection of how their biology responds to heat.
What do crickets eat?
Most crickets are omnivores, eating plant material like leaves, seeds, and fruit, along with fungi, decaying matter, and small invertebrates or eggs. Their broad, flexible diet helps them live in many habitats and makes them easy to farm as feeder insects and, increasingly, as food for people.
Are crickets the same as grasshoppers?
They're related but different. Crickets and grasshoppers both belong to the order Orthoptera and have powerful jumping hind legs, but crickets typically have longer antennae, are often active at night, and sing by rubbing their wings together, whereas grasshoppers are usually day-active and make sound differently. Crickets are actually closer kin to katydids.

Sources and further reading

Authoritative wildlife references used for general educational context. Conservation status should always be verified against current IUCN Red List data. External links open in a new tab.