This page offers both a pictorial and verbal glossary of tree cricket terms.
Antenna (pl = antennae) – paired, flexible, segmented sensory appendages on the head of the tree cricket. Function primarily as an organ of touch. Also called antennomeres.
Antennated – when one tree cricket uses its antennae to tactilely explore or communicate with another tree cricket.
Antepenultimate – ante means before. Pen comes from Latin paene meaning almost. Ultimate from the Latin ultimus meaning last. Thus the stage before the shedding of the last exoskeleton.
Caput fluidum – collection of fluid at the top of the head of newly emerged tree cricket nymphs. (I created this term after finding no term for the temporary fluid bump on less than 1 day old nymphs.)
Exoskeleton – outer shell / skin.
Exuvia – term for exoskeleton once it has been shed.
Family – a group of related insects i.e. Gryllidae.
Flagellum – a whip-like structure starting with the third antennal segment.
Forewings – the uppermost pair of wings, in male tree crickets they are called tegmina (one alone is called a tegmen).
Genus (pl = genera) – a group of closely-related species, presumably descended from a single common ancestor.
Hemolymph – Fluid in the bodies of some insects that is the equivalent of blood. Large concentrations of hemolymph
on tree crickets will often look white.
Instar – life stage of an arthropod after molting (shedding the exoskeleton). Tree crickets instars are numbered from 1 to 5. The first instar is the stage between emerging from the egg and before the first molt. There are 5 molts before a tree cricket reaches the adult stage.
Macropterous – long winged.
Metatarsus (and tarsus) – limb parts.
Mouthparts – insect mouthparts are paired appendages (except for the labrum) used to grab, manipulate and chew food.
Labium – a fused pair of appendages (like a lower lip for a tree cricket)
Labrum – the upper lip of a tree cricket – not always accepted as a true mouthpart.
Mandible – the ‘jaw’, mostly used to cut and chew food.
Maxilla – used in a manner similar to mandibles, for sensing and manipulating food.
Nymph – immature stage (between egg and adult).
Occiput (adjective occipital) – top back of the head, where it connects with the ‘neck’.
Oviposit – from Latin ovum for egg, and ponere for to put or to place.
Oviposition – the action or process of laying eggs.
Pedicel – a piece supporting another part, or joining one part to another. The pedicel on a tree cricket Is the second segment of the antenna. From Latin pedis for foot.
Scape – basal segment of the antennae (attached to the head). From Latin scapus for stem.
Species (singular or plural) – group of organisms capable of interbreeding and producing fertile offspring.
Stridulate – sound production from rubbing together of body parts. From Latin stridor for grating, and stridulus for
Creaking or squeaking. Tree cricket stridulations are produced by tiny teeth-like projections on the underside of one forewing scraping against a hard structure on the other forewing.
Subfamily – major divisions of a Family. Comprises a group of related tribes or genera. Tree crickets are the subfamily named Oecanthinae.
Taxon (pl = taxa) – a taxonomic unit designating an organism or group of organisms.
Tegmen (pl = tegmina) – the paddle-shaped thickened forewings on male tree crickets.
Teneral – term used for a freshly molted tree cricket. Typically are pale in color until they completely dry. From Latin tener for soft, young.
Tribe – group with similar characters that is ranked between subfamily and genus, or between
Subfamily and subtribe.
Venation – the state of having veins. Tree crickets have vein-like structures on the wings.