Invertebrate Stereotypes - Crickets - 4

Violin playing cricket, honest, Pinocchio's trusted advisor

Male crickets are known for the chirping sound they make. In some cultures this sound is seen as a sign of good luck, while in other cultures it is associated with bad luck. Some cartoons depict crickets as violinists because the movements they make to produce their chirping sound resemble someone playing a violin.

True crickets are insects of the Gryllidae, a cosmopolitan family of around 100 genera comprising some 800 species, belonging to the order Orthoptera. Crickets, like other Orthoptera (grasshoppers and katydids), are capable of producing high-pitched sound by stridulation. The fact that only males sing, and only males fight, means that females have little value as pets apart from breeding. Chinese keepers feed young home-bred females to birds as soon as crickets display sexual dimorphism. The principal purpose of a male cricket's "song" is to attract females for mating.