This is an example of a large genus of Asian and African crickets found living on the ground in leaf litter. Loxoblemmus crickets can be found in rainforests or in mixed woodland. They are often common and heard singing after dark. In their book on the Australian Crickets, Otte and Alexander (1983) list two species in the genus from Australia.
This species, L. pallens (Serville), is found only in Australia where it has a patchy distribution along the cost of Queensland north of Bundaberg. At times it is relatively common. Both sexes are short-winged and cannot fly. We found a population in some native woodland north of Mareeba, Queensland. Males have a pronounced hump between the eyes.Calling Song of the Hump-nosed Cricket, Loxoblemmus pallens.
Reference
Otte, D., Alexander, R. D. 1983. The Australian Crickets (Orthoptera: Gryllidae). Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. Monograph 22. Pp. 1-477.
Nice to see some healthy crickets and to know they are singing somewhere. The eerily quiet summer nights here in the far north of NA take some getting used to.
ReplyDeleteWe were lucky to inherit a leopard gecko from a departing graduate student. The gecko likes crickets, but is a clumsy hunter, so enough used to survive and breed so that we had almost continuous cricket singing in the living room. Truthfully, we liked the crickets better than the gecko.
Now, alas, an adenovirus (or perhaps the cricket paralysis virus - reports are mixed) has reached Canadian cricket farms and we've had no luck with survival of Acheta domestica. This has been a silent winter.
Sounds pretty glum. It's becoming "winter" here. Getting down to 17C at night. Must fire up the pot-bellied stove! It's all relative, isn't it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your comment, Heather.
DR