Spring Field Cricket (Orthoptera of Iowa)

Spring Field Cricket

Gryllus veletis

Identification ⁵

Very similar to the Fall Field Cricket (Gryllus pennsylvanicus) but appears as adults in the spring, primarily in June. Fall Field Cricket begins to appear as adults in early August and Spring Field Crickets should have laid eggs and died by then. This life cycle is consistent enough that, in Iowa, adult Gryllus in May or June can be assumed to be Gryllus veletis and adult Gryllus from mid August to October or November can be assumed to be Gryllus pennsylvanicus.

In Iowa, it is possible adults will be both be present in early August, as singing males are known to sometimes overlap slightly in time in South Dakota, Kansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Nebraska (see Weissman and Gray (2019)) and Ohio (see Alexander and Meral (1967). However, adults seen outside the window of early August can probably safely be assigned to species.

Additionally, the cerci in G. veletis are very short, the shortest in this genus. Ovipositor is also shorter than in G. pennsylvanicus. Weissman and Gray (2019) give an example where Fall Field Crickets collected in South Dakota had ovipositor length of 18 mm and a Spring Field Cricket from the same location had an ovipositor length of 12 mm.

Resources ⁵

SINA: https://sina.orthsoc.org/488a.htm
Weissman and Gray (2019), an excellent paper on the Gryllus genus, can be downloaded at SINA.
Alexander, R.D. & Meral, G.H. (1967) Seasonal and daily chirping cycles in the northern spring and fall field crickets, Gryllus veletis and G. pennsylvanicus. The Ohio Journal of Science, 676, 200–209.

Occurrence ⁵

This species ranges across most of the U.S. and occurs throughout the state of Iowa.