Overview
This is the largest family of crickets. Some species are apterous and subterranean but by far the largest number are winged in both sexes.
Description
The stridulatory apparatus of the male tegmen usually includes four areas: the mirror, cordal area, harp and basal areas. Three posterior branches of CuA delimit the mirror and form the boundary between the cordal area and harp, while the proximal boundary of the last is formed by CuP.
Distribution
The
Gryllinae
include 6 tribes based on tegminal structure, vein patterns and tibial spination formulas. Gymnogryllini include a single genus of very large, forest-dwelling crickets from northern Australia.
Cephalogryllini include 3 genera, of which
Apterogryllus
is wingless and subterranean.
Gryllini include the widespread
Teleogryllus
and the introduced house cricket
Acheta domesticus
.
Landrevini include only 2 Australian genera, both from the rainforests of North Queensland.
Mjobergella
has a large, square head;
Copholandrevus
is peculiar in that the short male tegmina do not bear a stridulatory file.
Gryllomorphini are a large tribe with 10 genera world-wide but only 2 in Australia. Both occur in the dry interior.
Eurygryllodes
includes 16 ground-dwelling species in which the males are winged and which occur in the arid deserts. In
Malua
both sexes are wingless.
There are 13 Australian genera of Modicogryllini, including some of our most common crickets.
Loxoblemmus
has a flattened, leaf-like face.
Lepidogryllus
contains 2 common, widespread, sympatric species which can only be satisfactorily determined by song. Not included in the above tribes is the introduced domestic pest
Gryllodes supplicans
(=
sigillatus
) which is common in Perth and north-western Australia as well as in the Brisbane and Sydney areas.
The
Nemobiinae
are very small, ground-dwelling crickets; 7 genera are known from Australia.
Pteronemobius
is the only genus with species capable of flight. It is distinctive in having the proximal internal spine of the hind tibia short and knob-like.
Bobilla
contains many species principally from the south-east corner of the continent.
The
Trigonidiinae
occur widely throughout Australia but are best represented in the Tropics. Eleven genera are known from Australia, some of which are world-wide in distribution. Most species have a stridulatory file.
The
Pentacentrinae
are represented by
Pentacentrus
which also occurs in South-East Asia and the Pacific; species generally resemble nemobiines, have flat heads and have no stridulatory mechanism.
Phalangopsinae
(32 spp., 3 genera) are slender, long-legged crickets found on rocks, tree trunks and logs, and in cave entrances. In
Endotaria
both sexes are wingless, in
Tathra
and
Endacusta
only females; males are loud stridulators.
Enopterinae
(105 spp.) include 3 widespread tribes: Eneopterini (10 genera, usually in drier regions), Pseudoscirtini (9 genera) and Itarini (2 genera, 2 spp.; in Queensland rainforests).
The monotonous song of
Oecanthinae
(tree crickets; 2 genera, 7 spp.) is a typical, nocturnal sound in the arid, grassland habitats of inland Australia.
Mogopolistinae
(scale-bearing crickets; 11 genera, 80 spp.) are small and occur in arid as well as rainforest habitats on leaf surfaces, in grasses, in tangles of dead stems or in tree tops. They are highly ventriloquial and a singing male may move or change position during intervals of chirps.