This month will offer videos of ovipositing and photos of oviposited stems…the start of the next generation.
OCT 31 – Oviposition
Since this female was so cooperative, I managed to get a great video of oviposition. You can see how flexible her abdomen is, and how she maneuvers her ovipositor to drill the channel in the stem.
OCT 30 – Grooming of Ovipositor
OCT 29 – Grapevine Holes
Although not focused well on the actual holes, this photo does give a good view of the removal of bark above each hole.
OCT 28 – Crabapple Holes
It can be tricky trying to find oviposition holes in crabapple trees. The bark already has numerous marks that resemble oviposition marks. Note the actual Neoxabea bipunctata holes in this first photo are rounder, darker and more recessed looking than the tree markings (second photo). The third photo shows just how difficult it can be to tell which are tree cricket holes, tree markings or other recesses.
OCT 27 – Well-plugged Holes
The female that oviposited eggs into this stem did a very good job of plugging the holes.
OCT 26 – Pre and Post Emergence
Although not the same set of oviposition holes, these two photos show plugged holes that will hatch the subsequent season and emerged nymph holes.
OCT 25 – Eggs Oviposited into Slender Grapevine
Although I am not certain what species oviposited here into this very slender grapevine, at the time I suspected it was Neoxabea bipunctata – only because I had been hearing a male in that area in the weeks prior to finding this. Also, the plugs are recessed – similar to the witnessed oviposition holes in the photos of apple tree branches.
OCT 24 – White Sands Tree Cricket Oviposition Holes
A female oviposited on white sage while in captivity.
OCT 23 – Russian Sage Oviposition Holes and Plugs
This line of oviposition holes are well plugged with chewed plant material.
OCT 22 – Neoxabea bipunctata Oviposition
Two-spotted tree crickets dwell in trees and shrubs. This female is ovipositing in the branch of an apple tree.
OCT 21 – Cup Plant Oviposition Holes
There are several plugged holes in this small area.
OCT 20 – Oecanthus quadripunctatus Oviposition Holes
OCT 19 – Oecanthus pini Holes on False Cypress
OCT 18 – Joe Pye Weed Oviposition Holes
OCT 17 – Side View of Plugs
A female tree cricket rests after ovipositing. Note the chewed plant matter covering the holes.
OCT 16 – Nigricornis Species Group Oviposition Marks
The advantage of this alignment is that the female can remove a bit of the outer bark to use to plug up a newly oviposited egg hole, and then have easier entry by her ovipositor into the spot where that harder outer layer has been removed.
OCT 15 – Varicornis Species Group Oviposition Marks
Oecanthus californicus and Oecanthus latipennis are both in the varicornis species group, and oviposit several eggs into a single hole. The broom plant on the left could have 32 eggs in the length of stem shown.
OCT 14 – Texas and Alexander’s Oviposition Marks
Although these two species are in different groups (varicornis and rileyi), they both can have a single hole in which multiple eggs are placed – both occur in Texas thus making it difficult to know the species until the nymphs emerge and develop. Oecanthus texensis on the left, Oecanthus alexanderi on the right.
OCT 13 – Narrow-winged Oviposition Marks
Oecanthus niveus (Niveus species group) tends to oviposition in the same areas as Oecanthus fultoni (Rileyi species group).
OCT 12 – Snowy Tree Cricket Oviposition Marks
OCT 11 – Snowy Tree Crickets Ovipositing Into Hazelnut Shrubs
OCT 10 – Dozens of Holes in One Stem
A 4-ft tall goldenrod stem had dozens of oviposition holes. It could certainly have been from several females over many days.
OCT 9 – Oviposition Openings
This is from the inside of old stems – looking through the openings drilled by a female tree cricket.
OCT 8 – O. californicus on Broom Stem
The varicornis species group inserts more than one egg per hole – usually 4-10.
Drawing by Dr. Bentley Ball Fulton
OCT 7 – Collage of Stems
These are stems photographed well after nymphs would have emerged. Most show open holes. Those that still look plugged either had unfertilized eggs, no egg or the egg degraded from unknown causes.
OCT 6 – Oviposited Stems
These stems were harvested at the end of July in 2016. Adults do not start ovipositing until August in Wisconsin, so they are all ‘last season’ stems. Most of them are goldenrod. Each was subsequently opened and no live embryos were found. I generally harvest already hatched stems in November or December, as it is easier to find oviposition holes. It is easy to determine if they are newly oviposited or already hatched as the new stems will have chewed plant matter plugs over each hole, and the hatched stems will have open holes.
OCT 5 – Plants for Oviposition
This shows the types of plants that had oviposition marks during a census of an acre in SE Wisconsin in 2016. The acre included plants that were already in place and some that were planted (with a focus on native plants). The xx – bunch were thick stands of thistle. Species heard and found included Forbes’, Four-spotted, Narrow-winged, Snowy and Two-spotted. Several Pine tree crickets were found elsewhere and added to the acre. Forbes’ favored ovipositing into the goldenrod, Two-spotted favored grapevines, and Snowy favored hazelnut.
OCT 4 – Oviposition Drawings by Dr. Bentley B. Fulton
These drawings are from Fulton’s 1915 paper, Tree Crickets of New York: Life History and Bionomics
Check the paper to see which drawings are for: Snowy, Pine, Black-horned, Prairie, Broad-winged, Davis’ and Four-spotted. He was a great artist.
OCT 3 – Dr. Fulton’s Description of Ovipositing
This is a paragraph from Dr. Bentley B. Fulton’s 1926 paper
The tree crickets of Oregon. Oregon Agric College Exp Sta Bull No. 223. 20 p.
The paper can be accessed here: s576lf26b.pdf (orthsoc.org)
This video shows the upper pair of rods sliding on the lower pair as Fulton describes.
Here is that action in slow motion.
OCT 2 – Chewing the Outer Layer
The female generally chews off a bit of the tougher outer layer before inserting her ovipositor in order to drill a channel in the soft pith in the center of the stem. The first video shows a female chewing away that outer layer. The second video shows a female chewing the starting hole, but then never manages to hit the target with her ovipositor (perhaps she is a novice or it’s harder to do than I realized). The third video shows a female chewing and then drilling into that area.
OCT 1 – Oviposition Secretions
This female Forbes’ tree cricket is placing an egg into a stem of Canada Goldenrod. Watch as she maneuvers her ovipositor in order to make a channel in which a single egg will nestle until May or June 2024. I have observed many ovipositions, but have not yet seen exactly how the egg travels from inside the female into the stem. This video, however, gave me my first view of the secretions she ejects at the end. This must act as an adhesive to keep the chewed plant matter in place to plug the hole – keeping it safe until it emerges eight months later.
