Allard’s ground cricket

not listed

NNR - Unranked

not listed

Allard’s ground cricket is a small grassland cricket. It occurs in North America from Quebec and Virginia in the east to North Dakota and Kansas in the west, with scattered occurrences farther west. It has been recorded in Wisconsin, North Dakota, and South Dakota, but to date there are no records of it in Minnesota.

Allonemobius ground crickets are difficult to identify from photographs alone but can readily be distinguished by their song. Adults are reddish-brown to blackish-brown. The body is broad and slightly flattened. Females are ⅜″ to ½″ (8.9 to 12.9 mm) long, males a little smaller, ⅜″ to 7⁄16″ (9.2 to 11.2 mm) long.

The head is brown. There is a triangular to oval depressed area just behind the eyes. There are usually two or three dark stripes on the top of the head, but these may be absent. When present, they are obscure or indistinct, not highly contrasting. There are prominent bristles on the top of the head (vertex) and upper part of the face (frons). The lower half of the face is not glossy brownish-black (piceous). The finger-like mouthparts (palpi) are not white. The antennae are long and thread-like.

The exoskeletal plate covering the thorax (pronotum) is widest at the rear and is covered with bristles.

There are two long, spine-like, sensory appendages (cerci) at the tip of the abdomen and 3 or 4 pairs of long movable spines above the tip. On the female the ovipositor is long and cylinder-shaped. The wings cover about three-quarters of the abdomen.

On the hind leg the fourth segment (tibia) has several pairs of long, movable spines. The last part of the leg (tarsus), corresponding to the foot, has 3 segments. On the hind leg the last tarsal segment has two long spurs.

Male: ⅜″ to 7⁄16″ (9.2 to 11.2 mm)

Female: ⅜″ to ½″ (8.9 to 12.9 mm)

The song is soft and high pitched. It is a long series of downward-bending pulses at the rate of 10 to 17 pulses per second, slower at low temperatures. The source of the sound is always the ground, never high in vegetation. It is best distinguished using a spectrogram.

Dry, open, grassy areas, parks, lawns, and roadsides

July to frost

Sources

24, 29, 30, 82, 83.

Common and widespread but not recorded in Minnesota

Location: Rochester, MN

Amazingly, I think this might be the first time I’ve heard this cricket! Truthfully, my guess is I’ve heard it before, perhaps in fields and from some distance, but up close it sounds far different from average yard field crickets! Wow! Loud and a continual trill.