SEP 30 – Texas Tree Crickets Mating
SEP 29 – Question About the Process
Looking at how the spermatophore is situated in the male prior to the transfer taking place, the visible male anatomy, and the length of the barbed tube that is actually inserted into the female…I can’t picture in my mind how the male manages to get that tube inserted into the female.
SEP 28 – Song Differences
Disclaimer: I am not an expert in sounds. These are purely observations and guesses by an amateur oecanthinist 😉
There were two male and two female Walker’s tree crickets in this container. Listen to the sound of the male’s burst of singing when he tries to lure the female back as opposed to when a second male approaches.
This spectrogram shows the sounds. To my eyes, the first sound has a smooth ‘come to me’ appearance, while the last two sounds have a ragged ‘go away’ appearance.
Here is the first sound, while the male is coaxing the female back.
Here is the final sound, when the other male gets too close.
While they both have a frequency of 3.4 kHz, note that in these 0.5 second waveforms, the top strip has 15 pulses and in the bottom strip, there are 17 pulses.
SEP 27 – A Female’s Escape
In this video, the female has already had the spermatophore in place for several minutes. As she leaves, the male chases after her and makes a few short singing attempts to lure her back.
SEP 26 – Mouth Appendages Movements
It is interesting to watch the movements males and females make during mating.
SEP 25 – Male Interference
This female Forbes’ tree cricket was in the process of ovipositing when a male interrupted her. If I do have pairs indoors, I generally separate the males from the females at the end of the day so the females have some peace and quiet in order to eat, rest or oviposit! It looks like she tries to kick him away with her hind limb.
SEP 24 – A Male’s Frantic Search
This situation always surprises me. These two tree crickets are in a glass enclosure about the size of two gallons, yet once the female wanders off the male has trouble relocating her. The whitish spermatophore is clearly visible at the distal tip of the male. Why the female was not interested in receiving his spermatophore is not something I can explain. Perhaps she didn’t like his metanotal gland secretions, or maybe she wasn’t impressed with his singing.
SEP 23 – Male’s Task to Prolong Drainage
After the spermatophore has been transferred, the goal of the male is to keep the spermatophore in place as long as possible to ensure all of his sperm drains into the female. The spermatophore has already been transferred in this video, and the female tries to wander off…but the male starts to sing or block her path and position himself to try to entice her back to sipping from his metanotal gland in order to allow more time to pass before she removes the spermatophore. Oecanthus quadripunctatus, Four spotted tree cricket.
SEP 22 – Walker’s Tree Cricket Female Eating Spermatophore
SEP 21 – A Female Removing a Spermatophore
SEP 20 – Movement of an Attached Spermatophore
Is the movement of this spermatophore a result of the female ensuring completion of the drainage of sperm…or is just because the feel of it is annoying?
SEP 19 – Slow Motion Transfer of Spermatophore
These videos show Oecanthus walkeri transfering a spermatophore – in slow motion and in real time. After years of being aware of this process and of the structures of the male internal genitalia, I just now realized I don’t actually know how a male manages to get the long tube on the spermatophore inserted into the female. I will post any new information I learn.
SEP 18 – The Spermatophore
In the first photo we see a mating pair with a spermatophore already transferred to the female, yet the male already has another waiting to be transferred. It has been documented that females sometimes feed up to an hour from the metanotal gland, thus giving the male a chance to transfer a second spermatophore. The second to last photo shows a female with two spermatophores inserted. The last photo looks like there are three! She was in a large container with two females and two males. The white spermatophere is freshly inserted, the two pinkish ones are older.
SEP 17 – Spermatophore Transfer
This clip shows the actual transfer of a spermatophore by a male Forbes’ tree cricket to a female.
SEP 16 – More of Male Hindwings Movements
In this clip, we can see the spermatophore has already been transferred to the female – we will see transfers starting tomorrow. Note the constant movements of those hindwings…providing an optical illusion of a sea otter moving its little front limbs.
SEP 15 – Movements of Male Hindwings
After posing the question of why the male has rapid movements of his hindwings as a female sips from his metanotal gland, this video of Tamarack tree crickets seems to suggest it is a cue for the female to arch her abdomen.
SEP 14 – Forbes’ Pair – Clip #3
Note the rapid movements of the male’s hindwings. Are these movements an effect of having the female touching the metanotal gland, or are they intended to somehow entice the female to keep feeding, or perhaps they somehow trigger production of more secretions…I don’t know.
SEP 13 – Forbes’ Pair – Clip #2
Note the movements of the mouth palpi. I assume she is dipping them into the secretions of the metanotal gland, and then putting them into her mouth.
SEP 12 – Forbes’ Pair – Clip #1
In this clip the female is feeding from the male’s metanotal gland, and pulls him back into position for her to sip properly.
SEP 11 – Singing Heart
SEP 10 – Pine Pair with Spermatophore
SEP 9 – Oecanthines Mating
The females of Oecanthus position themselves atop the male in order to sip secretions from the metanotal gland. They might be upside down under a leaf, but never dangle.
SEP 8 – Photos of Mating Neoxabeans
The female of this genus hangs onto the male, and the male flails about. It would appear he is trying to get her off his back (no pun intended), but actually he is trying to keep her occupied so she does not remove his transferred spermatophore before it has had ample time to empty into her in order to fertilize her eggs.
SEP 7 – Neoxabea bipunctata Mating Chaos
SEP 6 – A Male Narrow-winged Using a Baffle Hole
When I first discovered this hole on an apple tree leaf, there were a couple of singing male Two-spotted tree crickets on nearby branches. About four nights later, I discovered this male Narrow-winged using the hole. I’m pretty sure the hole had been made by the Two-spotted, but I did not witness it being created.
SEP 5 – A Male Using the Baffle Hole He Created
This shows what a tree cricket looks like from the other side of the leaf.
SEP 4 – One Male’s Two Baffle Holes
These two holes were made by a single male which was sleeved on an apple tree. They have the same shape and size, and were chewed on the same side of the central vein of the leaf.
SEP 3 – Size of Baffle Hole
The ruler is showing millimeters.
SEP 2 – Baffle Holes Up Close
You can see the small bites that were taken by the male Two-spotted tree cricket to get the opening just the right size and shape.
SEP 1 – Baffling Behavior 😉
This month will include photos, videos and info on singing, mating and ovipositing.
I thought I would start with my very first encounter with a tree cricket – which led me to where I am now as far as studying them.
It took me quite some time to actually see this male. We are looking at his back half….his front half is extending through the hole to the other side of the leaf. I learned from Dr. Thomas J. Walker, professor emeritus, that this is a baffle. The male created that hole to a size that matched the shape of his lifted wings. Put in simple terms for people like me, he essentially increased the size of his wings. I can attest that his song was VERY LOUD. I was expecting to find a much larger critter making all that noise!
