Cave Cricket

• It has neither wings nor sound-producing organs: unlike house crickets it does not sing, because in the total darkness underground sound would be no use for recognising its own kind.
• Nor does it have tympana: it navigates by its extremely long antennae, which sweep the ground in the dark like canes.
• It jumps explosively and erratically when disturbed, with no control over direction, which lets it escape a predator in a confined space.
• It does not sing: unlike true crickets, the males of this family do not stridulate.
• It is wingless and walks with its antennae, far longer than its body, feeling its way through the dark.
• Cave crickets are opportunistic omnivores: they eat fungi, plant debris and dead insects.

Skeleton type

Invertebrate - chitin exoskeleton (insect)

Habitat and environment

Caves, hollow logs and damp leaf litter of western North America

Sources consulted: Orthoptera Species File; Rehn (1903); Capinera, Scott y Walker (2004)

The pins mark the parks where its presence is documented.