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 … Continue reading Glossary