COLUMN Limburg Landscape – This insect is a real stage animal (Wellen)

Dirk Ottenburghs, director of nature association Limburgs Landschap vzw, shows us around the wonderful world of fauna and flora in Limburg’s nature.

I think ‘chirp’ is a great verb. Because it is indeed work. Field crickets are the best at it. They produce this well-known sound by rubbing a serrated part of their right wing over their left. For hours, all day long and well into the night. You can hear it up to 50 meters away. That’s a huge distance in cricket country. Because these crawlers are only 2 cm tall. In human size you would hear us up to 5 km away. With a complaint of noise pollution probably on top of that.Our field cricket goes out of its way – we are talking about the males – to seduce a lady. They do this from their balcony. Besides digging holes, keeping the terrace clean and chirping, there isn’t much other action involved. That terrace is an important fact. It’s actually his stage. Our field cricket therefore makes it a challenge to organize that place ideally. He neatly removes all plants and blades of grass and meticulously levels his serenade spot. This way he can send his song there, but he is also very close to his safe hole. The reason why they stay so close to their self-dug hole is purely for safety. Because they are on the menu of a whole range of other animals. By winter the entire population has been eaten. But that’s no problem, that’s just the way it is with our field crickets. After a while the chirping attracts one or more ladies. They hear their male colleagues thanks to an eardrum on their front legs. Their ears are in an unexpected place. Once the male notices her, he immediately sings a tone lower. They have that in common with us. He certainly doesn’t want to scare her off. That’s why he walks backwards towards her. It’s a matter of not seeming too eager. In jerks, as if he doesn’t yet know whether this is the one. When the female indicates that he is welcome, he delivers a package of sperm. After that, his job is certainly not over. He follows her constantly for the next few hours. Because imagine if another field cricket were to take away and replace your package, which was delivered with so much effort. You don’t want that, do you?From that moment on, safety is no longer so important for our singer. Protecting your future offspring is what matters now. He invites the female to nest as close as possible to his stage and the accompanying hole and deposit the eggs there. He now dares to venture a little further. In the event of danger, he is more likely to be the victim. If he does reach his safe hiding place, his wife has already arrived and he is closer to the exit. Another less safe situation. The chance that he will be eaten increases enormously. But he is happy to sacrifice himself for his family. His goal is to provide a new generation of field crickets. ‘Family’ is relative here. Because the females don’t stick to just one male. They lay 20 to 40 eggs at a time, but do this very often. In total they produce 200 to even 1,000 eggs! With several males. That is of course also a way to increase the chance of success for strong offspring. About a month later the nymphs hatch from the eggs. They are only a millimeter in size, but grow very quickly. Six weeks later they are already 10 times as big. Because they grow so quickly, they have to molt up to ten times. They do this by hanging upside down from a blade of grass. Once they have taken off their old jacket, they eat it for a while. Free food and they leave it clean. Our nymphs grow into adult field crickets by the following spring. Ready to chirp a song of your own. It remains a great word. But also a wonderful sound during a walk on a sultry evening on the heath. Live from his own stage. When I’m alone, I stop for a moment to give a little applause.

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